Heroes Again
by ilioveharrypotter
Summary: Trouble is brewing again, 7 years after battle, and it is up to the Golden Trio to save the day but R/HR haven't spoken in 4 years. Ron's with Lavender and Hermione has a secret boyfriend...
1. Chapter 1

Heroes Again

Chapter 1

Harry's POV

Harry knocked on his best friend's door and silently braced himself for the horror that was about to come. He honestly didn't mind that Ron had gotten himself a girlfriend, it was just _who_ that girlfriend was that annoyed him. Lavender Brown. Of all the women in the world that Ron could have gone out with, he chooses her. And no matter what Ron said, Harry still thought that Ron was only going out with Lavender out of spite, after all, who else could wind Hermione up this much?

The door swung open and her high-pitched voice screeched, "Won-won, Harry's here now!"

"Hello Lavender, how are you?" Harry planted a smile on his face as she launched into a long story about what she and "Won-won" did during the weekend. Ron and Lavender had been dating for 3 years now and Hermione and Ron hadn't had a civilized conversation in 4 years, and probably wouldn't ever again. Their 2 and a half year relationship hadn't ended well.

"Lavender, how many times have I asked you not to call me that?" Ron demanded grumpily, as he walked into the room.

"Sorry, Won-won," said Lavender happily. Ron rolled his eyes and turned to Harry, "Ready to go?" he asked, as if it had been Harry holding them up.

They apparated to the ministry and headed for the Auror department. Harry was head of the department and Ron was his deputy, so they shared the same office.

It was quite a boring day, nothing to do except paperwork, so Harry was immensely happy when lunch time came. He had just received a text message, he had got a muggle phone because he thought they were convenient but not many of his friends had one, the message was from Hermione telling him the address of the café they were going to meet at for lunch. They always went to muggle cafés to avoid the press.

Ron walked to the door of their office and turned back to look at Harry, "Coming for lunch, mate?" he asked brightly.

"What? Oh no, Ron, I'm supposed to meet, um, um…" Harry frantically tried to think of a name but nothing came, "Someone" he finished lamely.

Ron looked at him for a moment, before nodding slowly. Harry hated that he couldn't even say their best friend's name to Ron without him freaking out but Harry had accepted this a long time ago. Harry never took a side because they were both his best friends.

oo0OO00oo

15 minutes later Harry was sitting in a small and quiet café in London, waiting impatiently for Hermione to arrive, he hadn't seen her in 2 weeks and he really missed her. She's been really busy working on some case for the Department of Magical Law, which she was head of. They would normally meet for lunch 3 times a week and she would come over to him and Ginny's once a week too, she was James' godmother of course.

"Heyya Harry," she called to him. He immediately got up and gave her a hug before they both sat down. "So what's new?" she continued.

"Nothing much, just been working and it's coming up to James' 2nd birthday so we've been busy organizing that. It's Saturday, next week." He informed her, James' birthdays were probably the only time her and Ron were in the same house but they never talk to each other. "What have you been up to, I heard that case went really well and we didn't see you this weekend?"

Hermione blushed for some reason and Harry was suspicious. "Oh nothing really, just relaxing, you know? I went out with Luna on Saturday night too," she said quickly. Harry could tell she was hiding something but he decided not to press the matter.

"Yeah well Ginny told me to tell you to come over tonight anyway, so she can catch up with you." Harry informed her, "We've got some news and we wanted to tell you before we started telling everyone else."

"Ok then, I'll be over after work." She said happily. They enjoyed the rest of their lunch in each other's company, catching up with each other. It was 2 o' clock now and they needed to get back to work.

They apparated back to the ministry but when they landed they knew something was wrong. There were people running everywhere and screaming. Harry grasped Hermione's hand and pulled her through the crowd. He saw someone from his department and called to them, "Jones what's happening?" Harry roared.

The young man looked up at Harry and Hermione and spoke in a panicked but clear voice, "Someone's attacking the Auror department, and they've got an army."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Harry stood still for a moment, frozen in shock. This had not happened for years, and he was sure that the department was unprepared. Then his Auror instincts kicked in and he realized that he was wasting valuable time.

"Come on," he said to Hermione, "We can go up to the department, see what they're doing and attack without being seen-" Harry stopped when he realized that this wasn't her responsibility anymore, so why was he putting her in danger again.

"Harry, I'm coming, now let's go!" she commanded as if reading his mind. Harry smiled at her determination and led her to the lifts.

Once in the lift a plan started to form in Harry's mind, "Once we get out of the lift we can go under the invisibility cloak, so that we can see what numbers they have and what they're after." The doors slid open and Harry pulled Hermione under the cloak and exited the lift together. They took a moment to look at the scene before them and were gobsmacked.

There were around 50 people in dark red cloaks, which covered their faces, against the 20 or so Aurors that were working today. The Aurors were badly outnumbered but they were doing well and Harry felt a huge sense of pride for his team.

Then a horrible realization hit Harry. He looked at Hermione and said, "The alarm isn't going off, they got in here undetected someone must have let them in," he said angrily.

"We can figure that out later, we need to get in there before someone gets hurt," she told him anxiously. Harry knew that by "someone" she meant Ron, so he quickly agreed and said, "On the count of three…ONE…TWO…THREE!"

They ran forwards into the fright. 5 masked figures ran towards them immediately, as they pulled off the cloak.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Harry roared, he took out 3 of them while Hermione dealt with the other 2. Harry heard someone coming up behind them, both he and Hermione turned and pointed their wands towards the figure.

"Guys, it's me!" Ron shouted, as relief washed over Harry. "We need to get more help, there are too many of them," Ron continued, while he stared at Hermione looking shocked.

Harry looked at Hermione too, "Can you send a Patronus, with a message, to the other departments and say we need help, the order too."

She nodded, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" She shouted, when she added the message she turned back to Ron and Harry, "We need to keep fighting until the others come." They both nodded and split up to resume fighting.

Ron's POV

He couldn't believe that this was actually happening. The department was being attacked but he couldn't help but feel confident when it was him, Harry and Hermione working as a team again for the first time in 4 years.

"STUPEFY!" He roared as more masked figures came running towards him. He noticed that people were coming out of the lift and realized that everyone got Hermione's message, he nodded to his father and brothers as he realized that they now outnumbered the Red Cloaked Attackers.

Ron looked round at everyone and realized that the ministry workers and Order member were definitely winning. He saw Hermione on the other side of the room duelling 3 cloaked opponents, Ron smiled as he realized that she was beating all of them easily. Out of the corn or of his eye he saw someone running towards her, with their want aimed at her back.

Anger roared inside him as he shouted, "PROTEGO!" The figures spell rebounded and hit him instead. Hermione turned and realized what happened, she nodded in thanks and began to handcuff the figures.

They fought for another 20 minutes until the room suddenly seemed very quiet. Harry came over to Ron, "I think we got about 20 of them but during the fight most of them apparated away.

"Bloody hell," Ron growled, they didn't even get them all. Everyone began clearing up while the 20 caught attackers were sent on their way to Azkaban.

"There's someone missing!" Harry shouted. All of the colour drained from Ron's face, who was missing? Ron saw Harry check a list of names of those who were called to fight.

Harry looked directly at the Weasley men who were all standing together in a small group and Ron instantly realized who was missing but before he could respond Harry spoke to them.

"Percy isn't here, we need to look for him now." Harry ordered the entire department to search for Percy and contact someone if they found him. Ron was running through the halls of the ministry, desperately searching for his brother.

Ron had become really close to Percy since the war and realized that everyone was very hard on him growing up. He wouldn't lose another brother because of another deranged dark wizard.

Ron gave up he couldn't find Percy and he had been searching for hours. They must have taken him. Ron slumped against the wall outside the Department of Mysteries. He heard someone coming but he didn't care right now. He had promised to protect his family and make sure his parents didn't lose another son. And he failed.

"Ron, you need to get up now," He looked up and saw Hermione staring at him and looking worried.

"Why should I get up, they've taken Percy and-" he was cut off as Hermione spoke up calmly.

"Ron they've found Percy, he was left in an elevator about 5 minutes ago." Relief washed through Ron for a moment.

"So, he's ok?" Hermione looked upset for a moment and Ron knew that he wouldn't like the answer to his question.

"They cast an unknown charm at him and he's still unconscious but he's on his way to St. Mungo's now. Bill and Charlie are with him, George went to the burrow to tell your parents." She looked at him for a moment and let him absorb the information before continuing, "There is going to be an Order meeting in a hour and Harry wants to see all they Aurors first."

Ron nodded as she left him alone. He was worried about his brother but he knew Percy would be ok, he had to be. But now he needed to find out who in their department had let in the cloaked figures, he almost felt sorry for the idiot, after all he would now have to face the wrath of the Weasleys. Ron smiled at the thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Harry's POV

The mood in number 12 Grimmauld Place was extremely grim. The Weasley family were very upset. Molly, Arthur, Bill, George and Charlie had come for the meeting and informed Harry, Ginny and Ron that Percy was still unconscious and the St. Mungo's staff couldn't work out what curse had been used on him. Molly was very upset and was upstairs being comforted by Ginny.

The members of the Order of the Phoenix were gradually coming into the meeting room. Neville and Hannah came in and smiled briefly at Harry before taking seats at the table, Luna came in then along with most of the DA, who had joined the Order after the battle. Then came some of the older members, Hestia Jones, Dedalus Diggle, Aberforth Dumbledore, Andromeda Tonks and Neville's grandmother, Augusta, they each took their seats and conversation broke out almost immediately.

"Won-won!" Lavender called as she entered the room and ran straight to Ron. Harry could have swore that he heard Ron groan at the sound of his nick-name, and the reason why became apparent as his brothers all sniggered. Harry felt sure that Ron was never going to live this down. Ron glared at his brothers but said nothing.

They talking in the room suddenly died and everyone was looking at the door. Harry looked up and saw Hermione coming into the room, avoiding everyone's eyes. Harry realized that she hadn't been in the same room with most of the Weasleys since the break-up.

"Hermione!" he called over to her. She walked over to him at sat at the seat next to him; Ron and Lavender were on his other side. Luna came over to talk to Hermione.

"Hello, Hermione, did you and Tim get home Ok the other night, me and Rolf wanted to stay but the nargles were annoying me too much." Luna said.

Harry looked at Hermione, he had never heard her mention a Tim before and didn't know why he would be going out with her, Luna and Rolf. It sounded like a double date.

"Did someone have a date?" George called from the bottom of the table. Hermione gave him the dirtiest of looks before answering Luna.

"I got home fine, don't worry about it." Harry realized that the entire room was now looking from her to Ron, probably expecting him to start a fight in a jealous rage and he looked like he was going to do just that but the door opened and Kingsley, Ginny and Molly walked into the room.

Molly looked over at Hermione and she immediately ran over to her and embraced her in a bone-crushing hug. "Hello dear, it has been far too long since you were at the burrow!" Harry almost laughed at Molly's favouritism of Hermione. It was a well-known fact that Molly hated Lavender but, then again, all the Weasley-Potters hated Lavender. She was just so annoying.

"And you'll have to come over for dinner on Sunday, of course," Mrs Weasley continued and Hermione nodded meekly, "That's great and we can have a proper catch up!"

Kingsley sat down and called for everyone to quieten down. "Hello everyone," he said calmly, "As I'm sure you all know by now, the ministry was attacked today. At 13:40 today about 50 cloaked figures walked into the Auror department-"

"I'm sorry, did you say they walked into the Ministry of Magic and attacked?" interrupted Seamus.

"Yes, they walked in," the entire room looked scandalized so Kingsley continued, "Ron was the only Order member present at that time so he is going to give us a report."

"Where were you Harry?" asked Neville curiously.

Harry looked uncomfortably at Ron, remembering their uncomfortable conversation earlier, "I met Hermione for lunch," he answered

"So that's why you were there?" Lavender asked Hermione coldly.

Hermione nodded and Ron took that as a sign to start his report, "There were about 20 Aurors in the department, we were all eating lunch. Then the secretary came running in to the office saying that we were being attacked, we had just enough time to grab our wands before they were in the room and attacking. Harry and Hermione arrived at around 5 past 2 and they sent a message to the Order and ministry workers. The fight lasted around an hour and a half. We captured 21 people and sent them to Azkaban. The others must have apparated away during the fight. This was when we noticed Percy was missing and went to look." Ron finished in a hard voice.

"Percy was found in an elevator 20 minutes after that," Harry stepped in, "We think that they wanted a hostage, they probably thought Percy was Ron but when they realized that they had they wrong person they left him. Percy wouldn't have been able to give them information as valuable as Ron could've given them."

The room was silent, thinking about the information they had been given, then Aberforth spoke up in a rough voice,

"How did they get in then? Someone must've let them in the department!"

"That's what we fear," said Kingsley calmly, "It is for that reason that the investigation must be carried out through the order," the room was shocked, the Order had not been needed in years, they met every so often to catch up and discuss matters but they hadn't been active since the war, really.

"I am most likely being watched do I have decided to leave Harry, Ron-" Kingsley braced himself for the reaction to what he was about to announce, "and Hermione in charge of this case."

"What?" Ron, Hermione and Lavender shouted together, outraged, while Harry grinned.

"From what happened today we can see that they still work excellently together," Kingsley went on, ignoring the whispers around the room," not to mention past experience in such matters," he smiled.

The entire room was holding its breath, waiting to see who would start the fight that was inevitable at this stage.

Lavender stood up, looking thunderous, "Well, why her," she spat at Hermione, "She hasn't done anything in years, she hasn't even been around!"

Hermione looked like she was about to retort but Harry stood up before she could.

"That's enough Lavender," he hissed, seething, who did she think she was to ruin the one chance they had to become friends again? "I am sure this matter is not up for debate, Hermione will be leading the investigation with us," he turned to Hermione and said in an innocent voice, "That is if you think you're capable?"

She glared at him fiercely; know exactly what he was doing, "Harry, I am perfectly capable of-"

"Good," Harry cut her off triumphantly, "That's settled then!" Harry knew that no matter how much Hermione didn't want to work with Ron, she would never back down to Lavender Brown, and of course Ron was going to do everything he could to catch his brother's attacker.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hermione's POV

Hermione, Harry and Ginny all apparated back to the Potter's house. The minute they arrived Hermione could hear James playing in his room. Hermione walked up to see him as Ginny and Harry showed the child-minder out.

"Aunty Mione!" James shouted the minute she entered the room. James ran over to her and hugged her legs for a moment.

"Hello James, what have you been doing?" she cooed at her godson, she couldn't believe that he was nearly two already. James launched into an animated table of his day as Hermione listened happily. She had really missed him the last few weeks.

Ginny poked her head around the door 20 minutes later and said to James, "Say goodnight to Aunty Mione, it's time for bed now." Hermione left her to deal with her son and walked downstairs to have a word with Harry.

He smiled at her as she came into the room but he looked wary, as he should, Hermione thought smugly,

"I can't believe that you did that to me Harry!" she began but he just looked at her calmly, feigning innocence, "Provoking me into investigating this attack when you were perfectly capable of handling this without me. Don't think I don't know why you're so keen for me to help Harry!"

Harry looked her and said in a mocking voice, "But you know that I can't really do anything without your help!"

"Whatever," Hermione scoffed, but she let the subject drop as Ginny came into the room, looking excited.

"Well, the reason that we wanted you to come over tonight is that we have some news," Ginny spoke in a happy voice, "We're telling you first because we can tell everyone else at the Burrow on Sunday."

Harry walked over to Ginny and beamed as he put an arm around her waist, "We're going to have another baby!" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh my god! Congratulations!" Hermione shrieked as she ran forward to hug her friends, "I'm so happy for you two!"

oo00OO00oo

An hour later Ginny and Hermione were curled up on the armchairs in the living room. Harry had left 5 minutes earlier to go and settle James, who had woken up screaming the house down.

Hermione noticed that Ginny was looking at her oddly and it was really starting to bug her. "Is there something wrong, Ginny?" she asked irritably.

"Oh, well, I was just wondering," she said with an evil grin tugging at the corner of her mouth, "Who exactly is Tim?"

Hermione groaned loudly, as she could feel herself turning red, "I am going to kill Luna Lovegood!" she exclaimed.

Ginny laughed and then became more serious, "Come on then, tell me all about him, it's the least that you can do for not mentioning that you had a boyfriend!"

Hermione cringed at the word "Boyfriend", she hadn't had a serious one since Ron but there was no denying Tim definitely counted as a boyfriend now.

"We met 8 months ago when I was out with Luna, that's why she knew about it, we went on a few dates and it just went on from there, I really like him, I didn't tell anyone because I knew that the press would make a big deal about it." Hermione spoke quickly.

Ron and Hermione were just as famous as Harry now and they attention they received from the press nowadays was shocking. When they broke up it was all over every single wizard paper and magazine. Hermione knew that now Tim was mentioned in an Order meeting it was only a matter of time before it got out that she has a boyfriend.

Ginny had been very quiet during Hermione's explanation and she looked shocked, "8 months Hermione, that is your longest relationship since-"

"I know," Hermione said in a hard voice, Harry came into the room before they could discuss this any further. "I'm going to go home now," said Hermione.

"Ok," Harry said, his face suddenly lightening up with mischief, "But don't forget to come over to Order headquarters at 11 tomorrow so that we can begin this investigation."

Hermione gave him the most deadly of glares before she stomped out of the house, ignoring Harry and Ginny's cackling.

oo00OO00oo

Despite what he told everyone else, Harry was nervous. Having the two of them in the same room yesterday had been amazing progress and he was worried that just the 3 of them today would be a bad idea. But they needed to work on the case, even though Harry wasn't particularly worried about the recent attack, he did want to catch whoever was behind it.

Harry was also unbelievably excited; he had really missed hanging out with his two best friends in the world. They were the first family he ever had and he felt like a child whose parents had gotten divorced when Ron and Hermione broke up. They were both determined to remain friends with him but they both needed so much help and support from him that he never said how much he missed the three of them hanging out with each other.

He never took sides during the break-up until 3 years ago when Ron got back together with Lavender. Harry felt that Ron had gone out of his way to get back at Hermione and was using Lavender as a way of hurting her. They didn't speak for 2 months. Hermione was heartbroken when she heard about Lavender but she would never admit it. Harry hated seeing her so upset and was angry at Ron but he realized that Ron was hurting too and needed his best friend.

Harry was in his office with Ron now; they needed to come in for a few hours to launch an official investigation. They would be slandered by the press if they weren't seen to be doing anything about the attack. Harry looked at his watch and said to Ron,

"We better go, it's nearly eleven and Hermione is going to meet us at the ministry entrance." Ron nodded solemnly, Harry knew he was nervous. One thing Harry knew for sure was that it was going to be an interesting day.

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

When Harry and Ron got to the entrance Hermione was already there, of course. Ron's breath caught in his throat as he saw her. She was 25 now and was stunning looking. Her bushy hair was now just wavy and was longer than Ron had ever seen it, she had a slim figure and her features were kind and delicate.

"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked, snapping Ron out of his thoughts. They apparated to Grimmauld Place and walked down to the kitchen, instinctively. Ron noticed that they sat at the same table that they plotted their break in to the ministry on.

"Right," said Harry, "We decide the best way to investigate this."

Hermione sat up straighter and said in an exasperated voice, "Well, obviously we need to make a list of everything we know about them-" Ron couldn't help it, he looked at Harry and grinned,

"What?" Hermione demanded impatiently, staring directly at Ron and he felt just like he did at school when she was scolding him for not doing homework.

"Well, I was just thinking that things don't change much, do they?" he smiled boldly. Hermione and Harry looked at him, speechless, for a moment before the three of them erupted into hysterical laughter, and suddenly they were just the three best friends who had known each other since they were eleven, again.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

A few hours later and they hadn't got much further in the case but Harry hadn't enjoyed people's company, so much, in years. Harry was optimistic that they would solve the case easily, because he had Ron and Hermione with him again.

"I think we should question the Death Eaters," said Ron suddenly, evidently following his own train of thought.

"You can't just accuse Death Eaters of every single attack Ron," Hermione scowled. Harry smiled at how familiar this felt and how comfortable they now were with each other. It has stopped being awkward the moment that Ron teased Hermione and the mood was now light, despite the topic.

"I know that!" Ron exclaimed, "I'm just saying, who else would know the latest Dark Wizards?"

Harry thought that Ron had a good point and he could see Hermione trying to find an argument against Ron's theory, she really hated him being right, but coming up with nothing.

"Yes, I suppose that's a good idea," she said reluctantly and Harry had to stifle a laugh as he saw how pleased Ron looked with himself.

"Ok then, we can visit Azkaban on Saturday and interrogate a few of them. Malfoy, Yaxley and all them lot." Harry decided.

They said goodbye to one another and Harry honestly thought that today couldn't have gone any better. They had a plan and, more importantly, they were all friends again, kind of.

**Review Please **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hermione's POV

The Daily Prophet lay on the kitchen table and Hermione fumed as she saw the headline she had been expecting but angered her none the less.

_Gryffindor Princess' Secret Boyfriend _

_Famous War Hero Hermione Granger has a secret boyfriend; it has been revealed that she has been seeing Tim Hargles, a healer at St Mungos for the past 8 months, without telling anyone. Mr Hargles admitted to this relationship when I visited the hospital to interview him, though he did so reluctantly. This development comes after the pair were seen out with Granger's school friend Luna Lovegood and her partner Rolf Scamander last weekend, apparently on a double date. Granger was helped save the ministry with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley on Monday of this week. Weasley and Granger settled their differences briefly to stop the attack and are said to be on speaking terms again, after their infamous break-up 4 years ago. This development is sure to be shocking for Weasley, who is said to still care for Granger. Neville Longbottom said to the Prophet that Weasley and Granger still, "Cared deeply for each other and always will." Will this new relationship last or is it destined for failure due to reports of Granger and Weasley reconciling._

_Rita Skeeter _

She seethed as she finished the article, who dare Skeeter write this drabble? How on earth was Hermione ever going to show her face in work again?

30 minutes later Hermione arrived, with a small pop, outside the Ministry of Magic workers entrance, as she made her way to the lift she could feel the eyes of everyone on her and she groaned inwardly. Everyone had seen that article for sure.

When the lift opened, Hermione was relieved to see that it was only Harry in the lift, he smiled knowingly when he saw her.

"Did you see it?" she asked him in a small voice_._

"Yeah, everyone did," he said consolingly, "I'm so sorry; she's just a horrid woman. Try and ignore it."

"Ignore it? I can't everyone is staring at me and I'm so embarrassed, Harry!" Hermione admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me, Hermione?" Harry burst out suddenly, "You know that you could talk to me and it wouldn't have come out like this."

Hermione was shocked by Harry's outburst, she looked at spoke sadly, "I don't know Harry, I didn't expect the relationship to get this far, I suppose."

The doors of the lift opened but before Harry entered the Auror department he reached over and hugged his best friend. Hermione smiled as he exited the lift.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

He was going through the files on the recent attack when the door opened and Ron burst into the office, his ears were red as he threw the Daily Prophet on Harry's desk.

"Did you see this bloody article? I can't believe it, she's been going out with some guy for nearly a year and she didn't bother mention it to anyone! Did you see the part about me, oh Lavender was delighted by that, of course, I can't believe it!" he ranted angrily, as Harry stared at him in shock

"What?" Ron barked defensively, as he spotted Harry staring at him.

Harry was speechless for a moment, he never expected Ron to react this _openly _about the article. He thought about his words carefully before continuing,

"Ron, I don't see why you're so bothered, you've moved on years ago and it's not like it's her first boyfriend-" Ron glared at him but Harry continued, "there is no reason for you to react like this, you haven't even been friends in years Ron!" he finished coldly.

Harry knew that he was being cruel and that Ron was hurting but he didn't want Ron and Hermione getting into a fight about this when they had only just started talking. And they had a case to solve, after all.

Ron sighed and spoke in a hurt voice, "I know and I'm sorry but I can't help it Harry, it's her!"

"I know, mate, but we need to focus on this case and we can't do that do that if you two are down each other's throats." Harry said, calmly.

The rest of the day was uneventful; Ron was sulky but didn't mention the article again. Harry's team began trying to identify the cloaked attackers but couldn't find any useful information.

oo00OO00oo

Hermione's POV

Hermione was surprised to see Tim waiting outside her door when she got home; she hadn't planned to meet up with him until Saturday night. When he saw her coming he ran over and kissed her gently of the lips.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione, I didn't mean to give her any information but she just came up to me and asked me how long I had been seeing my current girlfriend and I didn't think she knew about us so I told her. I'm sorry, I know that you wanted to tell you friends first." Tim said in a rush.

"It's Ok I told them before the article came out," she smiled and hugged him, "I'm glad you came over."

He grinned as she opened the door to her flat. The minute they were inside the door, Tim pulled Hermione closer and put his hands on her waist as he kissed her.

There floo glowed and Ginny appeared out of the fireplace, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't think that you would have anyone over!" she exclaimed.

Hermione and Tim quickly broke apart as Tim said, "I'll leave you to talk, see you on Saturday Hermione," he said as Hermione nodded, very red in the face.

He left and Ginny turned to Hermione and grinned, "Well I would never have expected it of you Hermione!"

"Whatever, just don't mention this to anyone!" Hermione warned but knew that the threat fell on deaf ears; there was no way that Ginny wasn't going to tell everyone this.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked Ginny irritably.

"I was just coming round to see how you are, Harry said you were upset about that article, but I can see that you are doing just fine," Ginny answered teasingly.

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

He and Lavender sat in uncomfortable silence. She had come over 45 minutes ago and they had barely said two words to each other all evening. Lavender seemed to have enough of this after a while and turned to Ron

"I want you to drop the Order case," she stated.

Ron choked on the chocolate bar he was eating, "Excuse me?" he choked out.

"You read that article Won-won, I don't want you working with her, it says that you are going to get back together and I won't allow you to continue working with _her!"_

"You won't allow me Lavender!" Ron erupted, "You won't allow me to look for the person that attacked my brother, who is still unconscious! You don't own me Lavender!"

"You can't work with her Ron!"

"I can do whatever I want and I am going to continue to work on this case and help my brother, whether you like it or not!" Ron roared.

Ron couldn't believe that she was standing there demanding that he abandon his brother, after everything that happened Ron knew that family was the most important thing in the world and he would not stand by and watch his best friends look for his brother's attacker while he did nothing.

"This isn't about your brother, Ron!" Ron knew that she was angry if she was actually calling him, "Ron" but he couldn't care less.

"I am going to work with Harry and Hermione to find my brother's attacker, regardless of what you think!" Ron said, in a final tone.

Lavender looked as if smoke would start coming out of her ears soon, she turned on her heel and stormed out of Ron's flat. Ron watched her leave remorselessly. It was true that he wanted to help his brother but, more than anything, he wanted to have his best friend back.

**In the next chapter the trio go to Azkaban, review please Xx**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ron's POV

"So are you and Lavender talking again?" Harry asked cautiously, as he and Ron walked out of the Potter's house and made their way to Hermione's, they had decided that it would be quicker to fetch Hermione at her flat rather than meet at the ministry beforehand.

"Yeah, she came over the next day and said she didn't want us to fight," Ron said in a grumpy tone. He didn't want to dump Lavender because he didn't want everyone to think that he was using her. He was a little disappointed that she came back, he was quite happy when he thought they had broken up.

"Of course she still isn't happy that I'm doing this case but that's her problem," he continued. "So where are we going anyway?"

Ron didn't know where Hermione lived now. He wondered if she lived alone or if she lived with _Hargles, _he shuddered at the thought and willed himself to find something else to think about.

"It's in the centre of London, I'll apparate us there now, she has a fidelius charm set up, so you won't be able to get in." Harry answered.

Ron nodded sadly as he held onto Harry's shoulder. He felt the familiar feeling of suffocation as he was dragged into compressing darkness. He opened his eyes and found himself in the lobby of a very nice flat block.

"Come on," said Harry, dragging Ron to the lift, "It's on the 3rd floor."

When the doors of the lift opened, they left the lift and Ron followed behind Harry as he knocked on the door labelled 3_c_.

Ron was shocked when the door opened and instead of Hermione, there was a man with curly blond hair and bright brown eyes standing there looking horrified. Ron then realized that the man was in pyjamas.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, are...are… you looking for Hermione? I'll go get-get her," he stammered nervously. Ron followed Harry into the small flat, he was fuming.

The man came out again, red faced, in St Mungos robes. "Hermione will be out now; she's just finishing getting ready. I'm really sorry about that," he said glancing at Ron, "I'm Tim, by the way."

Ron felt a sudden urge to punch Tim; it was lucky that Harry picked up on this mood and intervened.

"I'm Harry and this is Ron." He said calmly. Tim came forwards and shook Harry's hand and Ron reluctantly did so too. "Oh course I know who you two are!" Tim continued, Ron got the feeling that he talked when he was nervous.

Tom looked at his watch and said, quite happily, "I've got to get to work or I'm going to be late." He turned his head to the bedroom and called, "Hermione I have to go now, I'll see you later, ok?"

Hermione's voice came from behind the door sounding strained, "Yeah, that's fine Tim."

Tim apparated to work and Harry and Ron were left alone again. "I don't like him," Ron whispered to Harry, "Do you?"

Harry looked amused but he didn't answer because just then Hermione came out of her room looking thoroughly embarrassed. "What are you two doing here I thought we were meeting at the ministry in 10 minutes.

"It's my fault," Harry said in an apologetic tone, "I thought it would be quicker to come here and get you, I'm sorry."

"It's fine, are we ready to go then?" she asked calmly. They apparated to outside of Azkaban and prepared themselves for what was about to come. Ron was grateful for the distraction.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

They had decided to visit Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy. Harry thought that they were the best to get information from; most of the other death eaters had gone insane during their time in Azkaban. Harry knew that they would want some kind of deal in exchange for their information and prepared for it.

They entered the small interviewing room. When the Malfoys entered the room they looked gaunt and tired.

"What the hell do you three want?" demanded Lucius angrily. Harry couldn't believe that after Harry testified for them in their trial they were being so hostile. He had gotten them half of the sentence all the other Death Eaters got.

"We are here to see if you can provide us any information on the recent ministry attack," Hermione said calmly. They decided that it was best for Hermione to lead the questioning, she could control her temper.

"Why would we help you, mudblood?" Lucius sneered.

"Don't call her-" Ro began but Hermione cut him off immediately.

"You are going to help us because we are prepared to offer you a deal," she continued sweetly, the Malfoys now looked very interested. "We will allow your son to visit you 3 times a week, until your release." She finished.

The trio had decided that this deal would make them talk, especially Narcissa. But to their surprise Lucius laughed and sneered at them,

"Our son has refused to have any contact with us, so if you don't mind we would like to go back to our cells." Harry fumed and couldn't help himself shout,

"You're not going to help me after I got your sentence reduced!" Lucius laughed once more and left the interrogation room but Narcissa was looking at Harry oddly.

"I think you should check my house," she said in a voice so quiet that Harry had to strain to hear her."

"Thank you," Hermione said, just as quietly. Narcissa nodded at her and followed her husband out the door.

"We need to call an Order meeting to organise a raid of the house," Ron said. The other two nodded as they left Azkaban.

oo00OO00oo

Hermione's POV

"You want us to search Malfoy Manor?" Kingsley asked, "We already did that after the war."

"I know," Harry said, "But we interviewed the Malfoys today and Narcissa said to check her house, maybe we over-looked something?" The Order nodded and went quiet so Hermione spoke up,

"We will need 12 people, along with us three to help, does anyone want to volunteer?" Hermione watched as Neville, Luna, George, Seamus, Dean, Bill, Charlie, Padma, Arthur, Ginny and Andromeda raised their hands. That was eleven; Hermione gritted her teeth loudly as Lavender raised her hand. Twelve.

"Ok," she said grumpily, unhappy the new situation, "We can leave in 10 minutes if you can all gather what you need."

Everyone left the room to prepare themselves. Neville came over to Hermione and said quietly, "Hermione, I didn't mean to say that to Rita Skeeter, I didn't think she would twist my words like that, I only meant that you and Ron would always be friends."

"Its fine Neville," Hermione replied as she hugged him.

Oo00OO00oo

They small group stood outside Malfoy Manor, staring at the gloomy building darkly.

"Come on then," said Harry, "It's now or never."

They entered the house, they furniture was blasted apart and lay all over the place. Nothing was in its place. Hermione searched the kitchen, for an hour but found nothing.

Seamus entered the room and said to her, "We need someone to search the Drawing room, can you do it, everyone else is busy?" Hermione nodded and left the kitchen. She had been trying to avoid this room but she couldn't anymore.

As she entered the room, memories of that horrible night came flooding back to her, as she tried desperately to push them out. Bellatrix standing over her laughing. The pain, all over her body, as the torturing curse hit her over and over again. Ron and Harry's screams from the basement.

Tears were sliding down her cheeks, relentlessly, now. She felt someone come behind her and put their arms around her in a comforting hug and she felt safe for the first time since entering the house.

She turned around and wasn't surprised to see Ron holding her. He was the only one that made her feel safe.

"I'm sorry Ron," she said, "It just all came back to me."

"It's ok, it's hard for me being back here too," he told her consolingly, "I'll help you search in here, shall I?" she nodded and they continued searching the room. Neither one of them noticed that Lavender was standing at the door watching the exchange, with fierce anger.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

He had finished searching the master bedroom and was yet again disappointed when he found nothing; maybe Narcissa had sent them on a wild goose chase after all. The door opened and Luna came into the room, followed closely by Ron and Hermione. Harry noticed that Hermione had been crying and he felt guilty for forgetting why this would be hard for her and Ron.

"Hello Harry," Luna spoke calmly, "I've found something that I thought you three would like to see. I was searching Bellatrix's room and I found this."

The trio gathered round Luna as she showed them a picture. In the picture was a very young looking Bellatrix Lestrange, in St Mungos' robes, clutching a little baby with a pale white face and curly black hair.

"No way!" Ron exclaimed, "It's not possible, she was too evil!"

Harry had to agree with Ron, he didn't think that Bellatrix was capable of this, but here was solid proof.

"She had a son." Hermione spoke in a horrified whisper.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Harry's POV

It was chaos. It had been 10 minutes since Harry, Ron and Hermione had told them that Bellatrix had a son and they were still shouting and screaming. Harry thought that his eardrums were going to burst soon.

"I can't bloody believe it! George roared, "How the hell could that madwomen have a bloody son!" Everyone roared in agreement and Harry took it a sign of how serious the situation was that neither Molly nor Angelina, his wife, reprimanded George for the language he was using.

"QUIETUS!" Hermione shouted, Harry looked at her in disbelief as the charm took effect and the room became deadly quiet.

"Why on earth couldn't you have done that about 9 minutes ago?" demanded Ron, as Harry nodded vigorously beside him.

"I didn't think of this until there now," Hermione smirked and Harry didn't believe her for a second. There were silent sniggers from the Weasleys in the room as they seen the look of betrayal on Ron's face.

"I'm going to remove the silencing charm, but everyone better control themselves," Hermione warned the room bossily, glaring particularly at George.

George, who really missed teasing Hermione, looked at her with a wicked grin and said in a jolly voice, "It's just like old times isn't it?" Harry couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing at the look of incredulity on Hermione's face.

"Ok," Ron said, trying to stop his brother before he said anything worse, "We don't have any proof that it was actually her son she was holding. So we don't know that it is little Bella junior attacking. We need to get a look the St Mungo records but we can't do that with the Auror department because the traitor will know that we are on to Bella junior, any ideas?"

Harry saw George's eyes lit up with mischief and was wary of what was about to come, something George looked so smug about could never be good.

"Well, surely," he began, as the whole room turned to look at him suspiciously, "Dear Hermione, over there, could ask little Timothy to get her the files?"

The smirk on George's face was shocking as Hermione looked like she was about to attack him.

"I swear to God, George Weasley, one of these days you'll regret that!" she said in a tone that Harry recognised as dangerous and frightening.

"I sincerely doubt that, Hermione dear, your face, Ron's face, Lavender's face…it was all worth it," George replied evilly. Hermione's face was red with anger, Ron's ears were red with embarrassment and Lavender looked like she too was about to make George regret that remark.

"Well, Georgie, it was nice knowing you!" Seamus laughed as the whole room erupted into tense and awkward laughter.

It was 5 minutes before everyone settled down around the table again. Harry looked at Hermione for a minute and then spoke,

"Well couldn't he?" he asked her.

"What?" she looked confused, which was odd for her. Harry knew she was going to kill him, but if this helped their case it was worth it.

"Couldn't Tim get you a file?" The room became silent and Harry tried not to look in Ron's direction but he could still feel the glare he was receiving. Hermione was giving him much the same look she had just given George.

"Harry, just anyone can't access those files and if he was caught stealing one he'd be fired." Hermione explained heatedly.

"I know but he could sneak you into the records room, he could say he's getting a patient file, you can sneak in with the person that gets it and you could look at Bellatrix's and then put it back so that you can report to us." Harry told her, confidently. He knew this was the best way to get the file and Tim wouldn't be in any trouble. He knew Hermione thought so too. She was just angry that they were mentioning her new boyfriend in front of Ron.

"Ok, I'll try that soon." Hermione promised reluctantly, as everyone let out a breath of relief; they had been expecting Hermione's temper to be much worse.

"Ok, I think that's everything-"

"Wait!" Ginny said, suddenly, "I just wanted to tell everyone that James' party will be next Saturday instead of tonight, it has been postponed in light of recent events."

"Ok, now that's everything," Harry grinned, the thought of his son's birthday party, with the whole family there had cheered him up. "We'll meet when there's something new to discuss."

oo00OO00oo

Hermione's POV

"Thanks again Tim," she whispered as she pulled the invisibility cloak over herself and followed Tim down the long hallway of St Mungos.

"Its fine, I'm glad I can do something to help," he smiled at her. They had reached the records room and Tim stepped forward and said to the guard.

"Hello, I need to collect a file a file for Ms Joanna Stevenson." He told the guard calmly.

"Ok, I'll get it for you now, Hargles." The guard opened the door and Hermione patted Tim on the shoulder in thanks, as she followed the man into the records room.

Hermione waited until the man had left the room again before she ran over to the filing cabinet marked, "Child-Births". She opened the cabinet with shaking hands and fumbled along the line until she reached "L". She paid more attention and found the file she was looking for only 8 files in. "Bellatrix Lestrange".

Hermione groaned inwardly as she opened the file.

_Name:__ Bellatrix Lestrange_

_Age:__ 22 years _

_Date:__ 17__th__ August 1979_

_Information:__ Mrs Lestrange gave birth to a son, weighing 7lbs at 4:03pm on 17__th__ of August 1979_

_Child:__ Benjamin Tom Lestrange, now 26 years old. Child was given to muggle orphanage at birth. Current Location Unknown _

"Oh Merlin," she whispered sadly. She was sure that Benjamin Lestrange was behind the attack and in Hermione's eyes the attack had become ten times more troubling. Bellatrix probably found him during the war, a back-up plan in case they lost, and trained him to fight. As she looked over the file again she gave a grim laugh as she looked at his middle name. No doubt Bellatrix had named her son after Voldemort; even then her obsession was strong. Yes, Hermione thought, Bellatrix Lestrange would always have found a way to ensure that she got revenge, even using her own son.

Her mobile beeped suddenly, and Hermione hoped the guard didn't hear it, as she put the file back in the cabinet to check her phone. Harry's name flashed up on the screen and she opened the message.

_Percy's awake, come to St Mungos and we can talk to him._

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

Hermione came into the ward and Ron's breath caught in his throat once again but he could tell instantly that there was something worrying her. Harry spoke up before he got a chance to ask what was wrong.

"How did you get up here so fast?" He asked her suspiciously.

"I was in the building," She answered him, as he and Ron nodded in understanding.

"What did you find?" Ron said, whatever she found out must be what was worrying her.

"I'll tell you later," she said calmly, clearly telling him that they weren't to talk about this here, "How's Percy?"

"He's Ok, a bit tired, though, come on everyone's in the waiting room over here." Harry told her, as he and Ron led her over to a door at the end of the ward.

Inside the room were his mum and dad, Bill, Fleur and Victorie, their daughter, Percy's daughter Molly (Ron figured his wife, Audrey, must be in with him), Charlie, George, Angelina and their son Fred, Ginny, James, Teddy and Lavender, who looked very bored.

The Weasley family was now so big that they were assigned their own waiting room, as only 3 people were allowed in to see Percy at a time. Everyone looked up as they came in and greeted them quietly.

"What's she doing here?" demanded Lavender suddenly, looking at Hermione,

"She has a name!" Hermione scowled indignantly.

"She's not family." Lavender continued, ignoring Hermione, Ron couldn't help himself get angry at that comment, it's not like Lavender was family, he thought.

"Lavender-" Ron began but Ginny turned round at the speed of light before he could finish.

"Well, she's more of a Weasley than some others in the room, I dare say!" Ginny hissed venomously at Lavender. Lavender stormed out of the room and Ron didn't bother going after her, "what's the point?" he thought to himself.

It wasn't until 9 o'clock at night that Harry, Ron and Hermione were finally alone with Percy to talk to him about the attack.

"Ok," Harry said, "Tell us what you remember then Percy."

Percy nodded and spoke in a strained voice, "Well it was in the middle of the battle, I had been duelling someone and as I bent over to tie the person up, someone grabbed me-"

"The cowardly git!" Ron shouted angrily.

"Ronald!" Hermione reprimanded. Percy turned to Harry and gave his a look that clearly said, "What's going on here?" Harry nearly laughed but instead he just mouthed to Percy, "Tell you later."

"Well they apparated me to a lower floor and brought me to someone, who was probably their leader. They called themselves "Doom Soldiers". They thought I was Ron because they kept saying that they captured one of the "Golden Trio" but the leader knew I wasn't you him and was really angry. He looked at me and said that I wouldn't wake up for a while and that was the last thing I heard before it went black."

"Is that everything you noticed, Percy?" Hermione asked gently. Percy looked at her carefully for a moment. Harry noticed that, for the first time, he looked sad and scared.

They made it pretty clear what they wanted." He said hesitantly.

"What?" demanded Ron.

Percy looked at them with a solemn expression before continuing. "They want at least one of you three dead." He whispered in a terrified voice.

"It's Ok Perce," Ron said calmly, "Us three are used to a madman declaring revenge on us." The trio ginned as they said goodnight to Percy and allowed Audrey back in the room.

When they got out to the hall, Hermione turned around to them and whispered, "Benjamin Tom Lestrange, she had a son."

Harry and Ron groaned as they looked at each other and then turned back to her.

"She left him in a muggle orphanage and it just said on the file, Locations Unknown."

Harry hadn't really been taking the attack very seriously, initially he thought that it was just a one off and a chance for his best friends to start talking to each other again but now they had Bellatrix Lestrange's bloody son coming after them. It was time that Harry got serious, he was sure that Benjamin was going to live up to his name.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Hermione's POV

It had defiantly been a very exhausting weekend for Hermione, and when she woke up on Monday morning she was still feeling very tired. But it was more than that, she had an odd feeling in her stomach that something was different today and she just couldn't shake the feeling away, no matter what she did.

She got dressed quickly in her room and made her way out of her bedroom calmly. When she entered her kitchen she knew immediately that something was wrong, she remembered doing the dishes last night but there were cups and plates everywhere now.

Hermione felt scared. Someone had been in her flat, they were probably still in her flat and she was alone. There was no one here to help her out of this one. She knew she had her wand but it wouldn't do much good if there was more than one person here.

She knew that the fidelius charm must have been broken, it must have been her last night walking home that game them the secret, she forget to check that no one was following her last night, she had been so distracted with the developments in the case. She turned around, intending on going straight to the fireplace and flooing to Harry and Ginny's.

She had nearly reached the fire when hands grabbed her from behind and pulled her to the ground, forcefully. She tried to scream for help but her screams were muffled when a fat, sweaty hand was placed on her mouth. Ropes were being tied around her hands and feet, they dug roughly into her skin.

A man about her age stepped out of the shadows. He had a pale, gaunt face with curly black hair and dark, menacing black eyes. He looked down at her and laughed at her struggling uselessly on the floor. Hermione knew that he could only be Benjamin Lestrange. She struggled harder against the ropes, she knew it was pointless but she would never give in. As she tried to scream again someone kicked her painfully in the gut and she couldn't breathe with the hand covering her mouth.

"So nice of you to join us Miss Granger," Lestrange sneered at her. Hermione saw him pull out his wand and everything went black.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

Harry and Ron were sitting in their office discussing the upcoming Chudley Cannons match when the door opened and their sectary came in, looking grave.

The Minister wants to see you both in his office immediately," She told them, and then she left the room quietly.

"Uh-oh, what've we done this time?" Ron grinned as he stood up, Harry laughed but there was an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he did so. He looked at Ron, and could tell by the anxious look on his face that he felt it too.

"He probably just wants to talk to us three about Order stuff," Harry said reasonably, as they got out of the lift and knocked on the door of Kingsley's office. The minute Harry entered the room he saw how stressed Kingsley looked and knew that this couldn't be good news.

"Something's happened in the case and I thought you two should know before we tell the rest of the Order." Kingsley told them gravely.

"What about Hermione?" demanded Ron, "Why isn't she getting told too?"

Kingsley looked at Ron sadly for a moment before continuing in a voice barely above a whisper, "I'm so, so sorry but Hermione was kidnapped at her home early this morning."

"NOOOOOOO!" Ron roared, the last time Harry heard him sound so agonized was when Hermione was being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange.

Harry was devastated, it wasn't fair. It was her who had fought endlessly for the world to be fair and peaceful. Why should she have to pay the price, hadn't she suffered enough? As he looked at Ron, he saw tears sliding down his face and Harry felt the tears on own own cheeks too, but he didn't care. He couldn't lose her.

"She didn't get to work in time, so we sent someone to find her but the flat was trashed." Kingsley looked at them cautiously before continuing, "They left a note."

Harry leant forward anxiously; maybe the note had a clue? Ron looked over his shoulder to read the note too.

_I will get revenge. BL_

Anger roared inside Harry like never before, what did this idiot need to take revenge for?

"I'll kill him," Ron vowed in a deadly voice and Harry nodded in agreement. Whoever did this to Hermione deserved to die.

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

It was his absolute worst nightmare, the one thing in the world that Ron has always been terrified of. But it was reality now and he couldn't handle it. He felt sick to his stomach when he thought of what could be happening to her now. Tears were falling relentlessly down his face as he read the note from Benjamin Lestrange again. But he couldn't be weak now, she needed him. He had promised her, after Malfoy Manor all those years ago, that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her like that again but he let her down. He always let her down. Not this time, he would find her and make sure she was safe if it was the last thing he ever did.

There was a bang on the bathroom door of number 12 Grimmauld Place. The minute that he, Harry and Kingsley apparated here Ron had locked himself in the bathroom and refused to come out.

"Come on Ron," Harry called to him in a hoarse voice, "The Order has arrived and the meeting is about to start."

Ron threw some water on his face, to wipe away the tearstains and left the room, he needed to find her, no matter what, he thought with determination.

He entered the Meeting room and sat at the top of the large table, beside Harry and Kingsley, everyone else had already sat down. Everyone could see that there was something wrong, and they knew it was big by the look of devastation Harry and Ron's faces.

"Something's happened," Kingsley began in a stressed voice; he no longer gave off a calm feeling. "This morning at 11:45 we sent someone to Hermione's flat-"

The entire room gasped as they realized who was missing from the meeting.

"She was 4 hours late for work; her department knew immediately that something must've happened so they sent someone to check on her. When the person got there her flat was trashed and she was missing. Benjamin Lestrange left this note." Kingsley passed the note around the room, as everyone looked at it in horror.

"What are we going to do?" demanded Neville angrily.

Ron spoke up in an emotionless voice that he used for work, he needed to be professional or they were never going to find her.

"We will have to search her flat, look for anything that could help us find them and work harder to track them, we need to be quick about this," he hesitated as the horror of his next thought stopped him from being able to speak, "if he wants revenge, he is not going to hold onto a hostage for months."

"We need to put together a proper plan," Harry said, "We are going to have to start looking for them everywhere, old Death Eater hang outs etc. We know that this is Bellatrix's son, so where would he go? It's going to get more dangerous so we need to split up into researchers and field officers."

Everyone nodded as they began to discuss in their own groups what they wanted to do. Lavender stood up, looking quite angry and the whole room turned to look at her in shock.

"I don't think we should be focusing so much into finding Hermione." The room seemed to drop 10 degrees as her harsh words cut like knives through Ron.

"Excuse me?" Harry shouted, as the whole room looked like they wanted to punch Lavender. Furious anger bubbled inside Ron.

"It's not fair, is it?" Lavender continued harshly, "Would you all have been searching so much if it was someone else kidnapped?"

"YES!" roared the whole room defiantly.

"Well you have just decided, Harry, that we are going to focus all our efforts into finding her! And you haven't even asked our opinion on the matter." She finished ruthlessly.

Everyone was on their feet but before any of them could reply Ron took matters into his own hands.

"Get out!" he spat at Lavender in disgust.

"What?" she screamed shrilly.

"Get out Lavender, everyone here is going to work endlessly night and day to find Hermione, not because Harry or Kingsley said we would but because everyone here loves her and because she has done so much for us, of course we are going to focus on finding her and of course that is fair." Ron told her determinedly.

"Ron if you continue to talk to me like that, about her then we are finished!" Lavender said confidently.

The room stared at her incredulously for a moment, did she honestly believe that Ron would side with her over Hermione?

"Fine then, we are finished, thank God!" he told her furiously. She looked like she was going to attack someone but stormed out of the room in a furious temper instead. Ron felt relieved, now he could focus completely on finding Hermione and keeping the promise he made to her all those years ago.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hermione's POV

Her entire body throbbed all over, as the pain lingered on every inch of her body. She had been tortured before, but never like this. It just never ended. Her skin felt as if sharp knives were stabbing every single part of it. She wanted it to stop, Hermione was never one to give up but this time she just couldn't go on. What was the point in fighting anymore, she thought as she lay on the cold, hard floor and prayed that it would all end soon.

The door slammed open, the noise vibrated off the walls and pounded into Hermione's head. She felt rough, cold hands grab her and she moaned in pain as she was dragged out of the room, violently.

Her eyes stung as they tried to adjust to the bright light. The hands released her and she fell onto the floor brutally. Through her squinted eyes she could make out that there were 5 "Doom Soldiers" in the room, along with Lestrange. Hermione gathered all the strength and hatred she could muster to glare at him. He was unfazed by the daggers that she was throwing at him, and just smiled at her pleasantly, as if she was an old friend. It made her skin crawl.

"Miss Granger, I was wondering if you would be more accommodating today?" he asked in a cold, deep voice. Hermione looked up at him and gathered her courage. She spat at him and laughed darkly,

"Never," she swore. His eyes flashed dangerously for a moment and Hermione knew that his patience was wearing thin but he tried to compose himself.

"Very well, we will do this the hard way," he spoke in an adrenaline filled voice. Hermione just stared at him defiantly, no matter how painful what he was about to do was, she would never help him. Lestrange nodded to the Doom Soldiers in the room, they all pointed their wands at Hermione, waiting for the next signal. She was terrified now and shaking with fear of what was to come. She closed her eyes tightly as Lestrange nodded once more.

"CRUCIO!" was echoed throughout the room. Hermione let out a blood-curling scream as the combined force of the spells hit her. She was in agony, it felt as if they were ripping her apart limb by limb but so much worse, she couldn't stop the screams that came out of her mouth, as she pleaded desperately for them to stop.

"WHERE IS THE HEADQUATERS OF THE ORDER OF THE PHONEIX?" Lestrange bellowed at her, "CRUCIO!" The curse hit her again before she had a chance to speak, tears ponded down her face but she would not answer him, never would she betray everyone like that.

"ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!" He commanded ruthlessly, Hermione felt a chill run down her spine, even though all the pain, as she remembered the last time she heard those words. She had wanted to give up then too, but she couldn't because Ron and Harry were shouting for her and fighting for her.

But she was alone now. She didn't have Ron and Harry here to rescue her this time but she was relieved that they didn't have to go through this that they didn't have to feel this pain. It didn't matter that they weren't here now; she would never betray them, ever. She thought of them and summoned all of her Gryffindor courage, as she said from her position on the floor,

"I will never tell you!" She saw Lestrange lose control, as furious anger possessed him, his eyes were terrifying, and she had never seen someone look so demented and mad.

"CRUCIO! YOU FILTHY LITTLE MUDBLOOD! CRUCIO! CRUCIO!" He screamed in a deadly, cruel voice. She felt herself detach from her body as the horrid, awful, ghastly pain ran through her body. She longed for death to come and save her, it would be a relief to feel nothing. She could feel herself slipping away as the darkness seized her and she hoped she wouldn't wake up again.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

He rubbed his eyes tiredly, as he fought to stay awake. He could barely make out the words on the page with the dim light in the room. Harry looked over at Ron and realized that he too was exhausted but there was a determined look about him that told Harry he wasn't going to bed anytime soon.

"Have you found anything, mate?" Harry asked him hopelessly. They were looking over old ministry records to see if they could find any clue about the whereabouts of Benjamin Lestrange. Harry knew that they wouldn't find anything in them but he decided to look through the files anyway, because he needed to be doing something. Unfortunately for them it was always Hermione who solved out the problems, she was the smart one.

"No," Ron groaned angrily, "We have nothing, we don't know a thing about him, and we have nothing to go on!" Harry agreed. They had nothing. How do you investigate someone who no one knew existed until a few weeks ago? Hermione had been gone a few days now and they were no closer to finding her. The Order spent every day thinking of places she could be and searching them, but they never found anything. Harry and Ron worked relentlessly through the nights but were still unsuccessful.

"We'll find her," Harry encouraged Ron but he knew that they were just empty words; Harry was beginning to lose hope that they would find her. Ron nodded vigorously and confidently. Harry looked at him with a mixture of admiration and pity; he knew Ron could never lose faith, like he had. He loved her too much. Harry turned back to the files again and continued reading for his friend's sake.

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

Ron groaned as he caught sight of the huge amount of press gathered outside the Ministry of Magic entrance. He tugged at the collar of his cloak as he tried to cover his face with it but his bright red hair made him too easy to spot.

"Mr Weasley," Rita Skeeter shrieked shrilly as she ran forward, leading the stampede headed for him "Is it true that Hermione Granger has been kidnapped by the person behind the ministry attack?"

Ron was taken aback by how much information she knew for a moment but he supposed that it wouldn't be that hard to figure out really. He quickly composed himself and answered through gritted teeth,

"No comment."

"No comment on the kidnapping of your ex-girlfriend?" She demanded rudely. Ron felt anger rise up in him and had to remind himself that punching her would only give her a story. Ron tried to push through the mob but he could still hear the questions that were being hurled at him.

"Have you got any leads?"

"What are you doing to investigate?"

"Any suspects?"

"Is Harry Potter investigating the kidnap?"

"Do you think she's alive?"

Ron felt a huge lump rise at the back of his throat as he heard the last question but he resumed walking to the Auror department, trying desperately to control his anger.

When he entered the office he found Harry already there sorting through folders.

"What's up with you?" Harry asked in a concerned voice as he noticed Ron's sour mood.

"Those stupid bloody reporters are camped outside the bloody entrance, that's what's wrong!" Ron ranted furiously, "Bloody Skeeter leading them all too."

Harry nodded solemnly and turned back to the folders. Ron frowned as he realized that they were employee records, Harry shouldn't have those.

"What're you doing Harry?" Ron asked him suspiciously.

Harry looked up sheepishly, "Well this morning I snuck into the Employee records room, under the cloak," Ron's eyes widened in shock at his friends daring rule break, "and I took the files of all the aurors who were in on the day of the attack," Harry continued.

Ron looked at him blankly for a moment before comprehending,

"Oh," he said dumbly, why didn't he think of it? If they knew who everything about the people working that day, they should be able to tell who the traitor was easily. And then he could find Hermione.

"Got anything so far?" Ron asked Harry hopefully.

"No, there were 21 people in, I've already gone through 15 files and there was nothing suspicious at all, can you take 3 and I'll take the last 3?" Harry asked him, Ron nodded quickly as he was handed 3 files.

Ron glanced at the names on the list. John Davidson, Roberto Hannigan and Daphne Greengrass.

He opened the first file cautiously.

oo00OO00oo

20 minutes later Ron sat bolt upright frowning. The files were surprising to say the least. He had quickly disregarded Roberto Hannigan as a suspect, he was 55 and had worked as an auror for the last 23 years and fought restlessly against Voldemort in the war. Daphne Greengrass was a Slytherin, she was a pure blood and her parents were suspected Death Eaters, though it was never proven. But she had joined the aurors the moment she finished school and has always been helpful and fair in investigations, Ron didn't like her personally but she had never done anything wrong. John Davidson was a half-blood, Ravenclaw. He didn't take a side during the war. There was nothing suspicious about him and normally Ron wouldn't even consider him a suspect. But he wasn't supposed to working on the day of the attack and it was certainly not customary for someone to come into work on their day off. Ron didn't know what to do, should he stick with his old prejudice and blame the Slytherin or should he take notice of Davidson's suspicious behaviour? Ron decided that it was finally time to grow up and stop blaming everything on Slytherins; he wasn't going to find Hermione by blaming Daphne Greengrass.

"Harry, I've found him, John Davidson." Ron said confidently.

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	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Harry's POV

The 12 Order members approached and surrounded the small, dark house quietly, holding their wands in their hands firmly.

"Ok, here's the plan," Harry began in a tense whisper, "We need to find him quickly, before he can get a chance to tell any Doom Soldiers that we are on to them. Ron and I are going to look for him and take him back to headquarters for interrogation. Clear?"

The small group nodded and Ron spoke up in a strained and stressed sounding voice, "George, Bill, Seamus, Angelina and Dean you search downstairs for anything relevant and useful to the case. Neville, Charlie, Hannah, Dad and Luna you look upstairs. We will see you back at headquarters at 8 o'clock in the morning, there's a meeting."

The team agreed and they slowly crept toward the house. As he crawled along the ground Harry felt extremely anxious, he didn't know what to expect from Davidson and just prayed that they would not find out that something terrible had happened to Hermione, but it was a hopeless prayer, he knew better than anyone that you don't get kidnapped and come away smiling. He just hoped that they wouldn't kill her; things were bad enough already, Ron was falling apart now and Harry didn't think that either of them could cope if she was really gone.

Once they reached the back door of the house Bill stepped forward and, soundlessly, undid the security enchantments around the gloomy house. Harry turned and looked at Ron, who gave him a determined nod and they motioned for everyone to enter the house. The Order began their search immediately, without a sound.

Harry and Ron went out into the hallway which was narrow and dark, due to the late hour. The duo tiptoed silently up the stairs. They were now looking at another hallway, this time there was 2 doors, the one to the left was opened and clearly led to the bathroom, Harry and Ron rushed over to the door on the right. Harry nodded to Ron and he opened the door cautiously, wand at the ready.

The first thing Harry noticed when he entered the room was the horrid smell, his stomach churned violently and he thought he was going to be sick, Harry pushed through his revulsion and looked around the room. There was a large mahogany bed in the middle of the room, which was clearly where the unbelievable stench was coming from. Harry lowered his wand slightly as he and Ron walked over to the bed cautiously.

"Oh God!" Ron exclaimed, shocked at the gut-wrenching site before them. Harry felt the blood drain from his face as he looked at the disgusting and terrible scene before him. When Harry saw the huge amount blood, the blood took him back to Dobby's death and the grief it brought him, although he felt no grief now there was a sense of loss in Harry when he realized that their best lead on the case so far was gone and so was all hope that Harry had that this case was going to turn out OK. The bed sheets were covered in so much blood that you would have never guessed they were any colour other that dark red and the figure in the bed did not look like the young man Ron and Harry had worked with many times before, his face was indistinguishable. One thing was clear; they would not get any information from John Davidson.

Harry felt repulsed as he saw what Lestrange was capable of. Davidson was his alley but that didn't stop him suffering from a gruesome death. It seemed to Harry that Benjamin Lestrange cared about his followers just as much as Voldemort did, which was a horrifying thought. What scared Harry the most was, if this was what Lestrange did to his helpers, what would he do to Hermione?

"We need to find her, Harry," Ron said breaking Harry out of his trance. When Harry looked at Ron he seen the same fear and horror that he was feeling. "We've just got to." Ron finished in an agonized voice.

oo00OO00oo

The entire room was silent. Harry could see the shock clearly etched on every member of the order's faces.

"Why would he kill him? He so young," Molly asked in an anguished whisper and Harry had to admire how caring Molly was, even to the person that was partly responsible for her son receiving a serious injury.

"Because he knew that we would discover the traitor easily, he was cutting off any loose ends," said Aberforth, bluntly. The room agreed with him gloomily, despite the cruel choice of words, Harry knew he was right. The room was silent again for a few moments, before Ron spoke,

"Lestrange is smart and cunning, he isn't going to make mistakes or, as Aberforth put it, leave any loose ends. He leaves no clues and no serious witnesses. We need to think about our next move. He clearly expected us to find out about Davidson. We need to outsmart him." The room nodded as one, each person pondering Ron's words.

"Maybe we need to wait for him to make a mistake?" Dean said.

"And how long will that take?" Ron snapped angrily. Harry took a deep breath and interrupted before Ron and Dean started arguing.

"We need to think through everything with this guy, he's dangerous and unpredictable," everyone nodded at Harry's words, "We can't rush into anything or make stupid decisions in the heat of the moment."

The silence was interrupted by a booming laugh, which echoed through the walls of Grimmauld Place.

"Are you serious?" George demanded, happily, "Harry blooming Potter is telling _us _not to rush into things? Mr Act-now-think-Later-Potter?"

The tension in the room dissolved quickly as everyone laughed at the indignant look on Harry's face. It was some time before everyone composed themselves.

"Ok, how about we set a trap?" Neville said confidently, despite the astonished looks on everyone's faces, "What?" he demanded when George and Lee Jordan started sniggering, ruthlessly.

"Lestrange isn't Trevor, Neville," George laughed, meanly.

"Ignore them, Neville," Ron commanded, casting a cold glare at his brother and his friend, "What's your plan, Neville?"

Neville looked thoroughly embarrassed but continued as though there was no interruption, "We can organize something, he will probably attack as it has been a week since he took Hermione," Harry noticed how Ron visibly flinched but no one said anything, "It was only a couple of days since the attack, so that means that he will probably plan something else."

Everyone looked impressed with Neville's idea, Neville was now looking at George and Lee gloatingly and Harry resisted, with some difficulty, the urge to laugh.

"But what could we organize that he would want to sabotage?" Percy asked confusedly, he had come home from hospital a few days ago and ignored everyone, even Audrey, when they told him that he should be resting, he insisted on coming to the Order meetings and helping in any way he could, though he was not allowed on any missions yet.

The room was silent again, as everyone launched into their own thoughts. What could Lestrange not resist attacking? Harry asked himself. He thought Benjamin's reasons for doing this, maybe they should do related to Bellatrix, but what?

"A war memorial?" Hannah asked timidly.

"Well that's a bit obvious isn't it; it'll be easy to tell it's a trap!" Harry winced at the shrillness of Lavender's voice. Despite her break-up with Ron, she continued to come to the Order's meetings (Which Harry respected her for) but she was usually silent. Harry thought she was waiting for Ron to apologise but was so far unsuccessful.

Hannah looked angry at lavender's outburst but she kept her mouth shut, everyone knew not to antagonize Lavender at the moment.

"Ok, the war memorial was a good idea Hannah, but maybe we should consider something more unusual." Arthur spoke calmly, Harry realized that he was probably used to playing peacemaker with 7 kids. Hannah nodded solemnly and the room once again went back to their own thoughts.

"I've got it!" George roared triumphantly, causing everyone to jump.

"Well could you have it a bit less loudly," Angelina smirked at him. He stuck out his tongue at his wife before continuing,

"Well, Skeeter and the media are obviously very interested in the case, so what if they received and anonymous tip off that there is going to be a huge meeting of the Aurors, Order members and even the minister of magic himself to discuss this case?" George told the room triumphantly. A few people smiled but most stared at him blankly. He looked highly discouraged that not everyone seemed to grasp the brilliance of the plan.

"Come on," he said in an outraged voice, "How would it look to the press if there was an attack on us, at the meeting discussing the attack, he'll think he's going to make idiots out of everyone, including the Order of the Phoenix, half of which are family members of the person who killed his _charming_ mother?"

Harry gaped at George for a moment, it was brilliant! There was no way that Lestrange could resist gloating like that. He'll probably think that he's got the Order of the Phoenix cornered.

"That is…genius!" Ron declared, in shock, while George grinned proudly.

"Why, thank you, little brother of mine!" he replied, happily.

"Who's going to tip off the press?" Ginny asked calmly, speaking for the first time. She was very stressed with the pregnancy and also worried about Hermione.

Harry knew that he had to be smart about this part or else their plan would be very transparent. An idea came to him suddenly and he knew that this would solve their problem…

"We don't need to tip off the press, they hassle me and Ron every day for information on this case, so we can just pretend that it slipped out," Harry told Ginny, everyone nodded as they realized that it was smart move. They discussed their plans for the next 10 minutes before Harry looked at his watch and realized that it was already 9:30, he looked over to Ron and mouthed "Work" to him.

"Ok, well I think we are done for today," Ron said, clearly happy to be making some progress, however small, on finding Hermione, "We have to go to work now, me and Harry can stop by and tell Kingsley about the plan and the developments in the case."

Everyone agreed quickly and left the meeting, for the first time in weeks an Order meeting had gone well and, although that could not make up for the absence of a member, everyone was in good spirits.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Harry's POV

They were ready. They had made all their plans and completed all their preparations, which were all too easy. Rita Skeeter had been delighted to inform the wizarding community of the very important meeting being held about the, "Mystery Ministry Attacker," by the Order of the Phoenix and the Aurors, in general Harry was quite happy with the trap they were setting for Lestrange but so much relied on chance that, on Monday morning, he was extremely fearful of the consequences of this plan and he couldn't help worrying that something would go wrong, they always seemed to really.

"Don't worry Harry, it will work out," Ginny said quietly, as she fed James his breakfast, "There is nothing that could go wrong, the worst that could possibly happen is that he doesn't take the bait."

Harry nodded and marvelled privately at how well Ginny knew him, and they resumed eating their breakfast in comfortable silence, which was only interrupted by James giggling and playing with his food, mischievously. Harry laughed at his son's antics, as a surge of pride swelled inside him and a sudden thought came to him,

"Gin, what about his birthday? We didn't celebrate it," Harry had completely forgotten about the party that was organised for his son. There was the attack on the ministry 2 week ago and then Hermione was kidnapped just over a week ago. Harry felt a sharp pang of guilt as he realized that his best friend had been taken over a week ago and he hadn't found her yet.

"I don't know Harry," Ginny said in a small voice, bringing him back to reality, "I want him to have his birthday too but it hardly seems appropriate without her, she was his Godmother."

"_Is_, Ginny, _is_ his Godmother," Harry reminded her irritably, and Ginny looked ashamed of herself for her words, Harry sighed and got up to give her a small hug before continuing, "I don't mean a big party, Gin, of course not, I just meant a small family gathering, it might help everyone cope, y'know?" his voice broke slightly at the end of the sentence, "and James can enjoy some time with his cousins."

"Yeah, you're right I suppose, that's a good idea, I'll organise it for after this meeting and, with any luck, _everyone_ will be here, eh?"

Harry smiled at her optimism and the fact that she didn't seem to be angry that she wouldn't be involved in the plan, they had gotten into a huge argument when Harry told her that she couldn't possibly be involved, when it could easily turn into a fight, Harry shuddered as he remembered the deadly looks she had given him, but she gave in when she realized that their baby could be harmed.

Ginny's mobile rang suddenly, interrupting the silence, and Harry frowned, she didn't use her mobile. She had only gotten one after Hermione pestered her for months, so that they could talk more often. She looked at the phone and her face became sad, as she left the room to take the call, he could hear her talking in the other room but couldn't make out her words.

"Who was that?" Harry asked her when she came back into the room; she looked at him sadly, as if she was unsure of how to tell him something.

"It was Hermione's mum. I went to talk to her and her husband a few days after she disappeared. I thought they deserved to know and it was the only thing I could do to help, seeing as I can't go on any of the missions. She rings to check if there are any updates." Ginny informed him calmly.

"Oh, that's good, thanks, Gin," Harry smiled weakly at her, he was a disappointed that he and Ron hadn't thought of this but they were too stressed and worried to think about it , really, " I can't believe that we forgot them! Mind you, Hermione will kill us for worrying them." He chuckled slightly at the thought of his friend's face, determined not to consider the possibility that she wouldn't be here to tell them off again.

"Harry," Ginny began nervously, "I didn't only tell the Grangers about this."

Harry looked at her confusedly, who else was there to tell?

"I also went to see Tim," she said in a rush, "I know he's not in the Order but he'd be dead worried wouldn't he? I mean, he would know she was missing but nothing else. I just told him about the case and what we're doing to find her."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her, Tim wasn't in the Order and no one, except Hermione, knew him.

"Well, it's only fair isn't it? I know what it's like to be left out when you three get going!" Ginny said defensively and Harry rolled his eyes at her attempt to guilt trip him.

"I suppose, just don't tell him anything about the plans, ok?" He warned her but groaned when he saw the guilty look on her face, "What have you told him, Ginny?"

"I told him everything, even about today," she said in a tiny, guilty voice.

"Oh for the love of Merlin!" Harry moaned.

"Well, Hermione trusts him, come on Harry, he was devastated and he's worried about her." Ginny pleaded.

Harry sighed in defeat and nodded, "Ok, but don't tell Ron anything about this, we don't need another Krum," he smirked at her and they both laughed.

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

Ron walked into the conference room and found that he was first to arrive, looking at his watch he realized that he was 30 minutes early but he didn't care. He really couldn't stand moping around in his flat all day and doing nothing, being here felt like he was actually making a difference and doing something useful to help find her.

Ron tensed up and he immediately took out some paperwork to pass the time and distract him, he couldn't think about her or what she was going through, it only makes him more depressed and angry; he needed to be completely focused today or he would never find her and he needed to find her.

People started filing into the room 20 minutes later, after what seemed like a lifetime to Ron. He talked with everyone for a while, especially his family, who seemed to be going out of their way to make sure he was coping. He felt irritated, though, that everyone was giving him these odd looks, as if they knew something that he didn't.

Ron was momentarily distracted as he noticed lavender enter the room with Parvati and Padma. He felt slightly ashamed at himself for the outburst at the last meeting, but he couldn't stand annoying bad-mouthing Hermione. Ron had been surprised that Lavender had come back to the Order meetings, and he respected her hugely for that, but she usually remained quiet and didn't contribute in many ways. Ron secretly suspected that the only reason she came was so she could send him angry glares throughout the meetings but it didn't really matter why she came, she was helping Hermione after all. When Harry entered the room, they took their places at the top of the long table beside Kingsley to officially start their "meeting". Nothing happened. They began to repeat old conversations and talk about old leads while Ron's heart plummeted. This was the only thing they had come up with and it failed drastically. Ron felt angry at himself for actually believing that this would work, as it felt like he was losing her over again. He felt so useless, Merlin only knows what she could be going through and they had done nothing at all to help her.

He looked over to Harry and watched him get up and address the people in the room,

"Well, it looks like that is everything to discuss, the meeting is over." Ron could hear the disappointment and grief in Harry's voice and knew that he wasn't alone in his pain and anger. He watched as the Aurors left the room first, looking thoroughly confused as they hadn't been told about the secret plan, and eventually it was only Harry and Ron left in the room.

"We'll think of something else, mate," Harry said to him in a tone that did not match his hopeful words. Ron was about to retort that they didn't have anything else to think of, when a burst of light erupted into the room, Ron covered his eyes with his hands as they light blinded him.

The light was gone, and as Ron took his hand away from his eyes, he noticed a sheet of parchment on the table that certainly wasn't there before. Ron approached the table warily, his Auror senses warning him to be cautious, and lifted the parchment; he could feel Harry behind him, leaning over his shoulder to read it too.

Ron took a deep, bracing breath and read the note,

_I cannot be trapped and you will pay a fatal price for attempting to_

Ron gasped violently, as fury ran through his veins. He heard Harry's sharp intake of breath beside him but he didn't care. A grief like he has never known took hold of him and he didn't know what to do. Lestrange was going to kill her. And it was entirely their fault. The stupid, naïve plan of theirs was going to cost Hermione her life. He felt tears spring to his eyes as he ran from the room, he could hear Harry calling behind him but he didn't care, he needed to get as far away from there as possible.

oo00OO00oo

Hermione's POV

She could hear voices now. It was probably the Doom Soldiers that were guarding her. Hermione kept her eyes jammed shut, she couldn't take any more torture, a shiver ran uncontrollably through her body as she once again relived the horrors that she had been subjected to here, it was worse than the war and she couldn't escape it. She felt weak and vulnerable here and she knew it was only a matter of time before Lestrange realized that she would never tell them anything and he would kill her. This frightened her but it was nothing to the fear that she would put her friends in danger by cracking and telling them all the Order's secrets. She couldn't stand these thoughts, so she turned her attention to the conversation the Doom Soldiers were having outside the door, to distract herself.

"-really angry, he is,"

"We'll be in for it now then; did they really think that they could catch him?"

"Dunno, but apparently he has sources around the Order, Potter and Weasley planned it, of course," Hermione gasped as her friends were mentioned, she felt tears spring to her eyes as she realized that Harry, and Ron especially, would never give up until they found her. Hermione was anxiously awaiting every word of this conversation now, it was the most she had heard about anything since she got here and it gave her new hope to realize that Ron and Harry were fighting Lestrange.

"Ha, of course it would be those two; the three of them could never keep their noses out of anything, could they? Well, they won't know what hit 'em"!

"Yeah, we'll he's furious, couldn't believe that they tried to trick him."

"Yeah, well, everyone round here wants revenge on those three, don't they?"

They conversation ended around here and Hermione was left alone with her thoughts. She was terrified for her boys now, she knew better than anyone that Lestrange did not like to be made a fool of. She was so absorbed in her thoughts throughout the day that she didn't realise until nightfall that she had been left alone all day. This was not the routine she was used to, where she was tortured for hours at a time, although the Doom Soldiers and Lestrange now realised that she would not give them any information, they kept up the torture anyway, they seemed to get some sick pleasure from destroying a person.

She heard footsteps approaching outside the door now and she listened to the conversation that followed.

"What's happening?" asked a rough voice, that Hermione recognised as one of the guards from before, "We've been standing out here all day, with no orders."

"There's been a change off plan," a new, clearer voice said, they had evidently thought she was asleep as she had not made a sound or movement all day, "He doesn't need the mudblood anymore, he's going to deal with it tomorrow."

They had started to laugh as Hermione felt all the hope she gained from hearing about her friends drain from her. This was it, they were too late. Tears flooded down her face as she thought of all things she would miss out on and all the people she would never see again.

She thought of her parents, who would be devastated to her of her death, they were so reluctant to let her live in the Wizard world after she got back from Australia, they thought she was in danger and she had spent hours explaining to them that Voldemort was gone and she was safe. How wrong she was.

She thought of James and a smile came to her lips as she remembered all the times she played with her excitable Godson, she loved him dearly and just hoped that he would grow up happy and loved.

Hermione thought of all the Weasleys, who she regarded as her second family and all the fun times she shared with them. There were there for the best moments of her life.

She thought of Harry and Ginny and prayed that nothing happened to her friends and their small family. She hoped that her best-friends would always be happy together and knew somehow that they would.

She thought of the one person that she really wanted to see, the one person that was always there for her and could make her laugh and cry in equal measure. She would give anything to speak to him once again and, before she knew what she was doing, she whispered out into the darkness, in a hoarse voice, "Ron."

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	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_Author's Note:__ Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far, I think everyone will have guessed what happens in this chapter (the ending of the last one was kind of obvious) and I just want to ask everyone to let me know what they think of this chapter too please. Also this chapter begins about 40 minutes before the last chapter ended- I'm sure you'll realize the point where it catches up again._

Harry's POV

Harry groaned inwardly to himself, as he took yet another glance at his watch, it was now 19:30 and his closest friends and those he considered family were all gathered in his living room, around James. The irony was that the only two people missing were the first family he had ever known. His stomach gave an uncontrollable lurch as he thought of what they were going through right now. Ron had run away from the ministry after receiving the note from Benjamin Lestrange, and Harry really couldn't blame him. As he looked around the room, he had to once again plaster a happy smile onto his face and pretend that everything was ok and good, and ignore the fact that Hermione was in serious trouble. He had come home with every intention of telling the Order about the latest discovery in the case but when he opened his front door, he found Ginny and Mrs Weasley; he just couldn't bring himself to call her Molly, happily setting up a small party for James. Although, in the eyes of the Order, the meeting today was useless and had failed, everyone just seemed happy that no one else was hurt or put in danger. There was still the misery that Hermione was missing but no one, except Ron and Harry, seemed to realize how much trouble she was in at the moment. Harry was stuck. Yes, that was how he was feeling, he felt like he needed to do something, or anything, to help Hermione but what could they do? Even if he told everyone about the note, it would just ruin James' birthday, as no one could do anything for her, they couldn't help her if they had no idea where she was.

"Harry," someone said, breaking him out of his depressing thoughts, it was Ginny, "We are going to bring out James' cake now, where's Ron?"

Harry looked at her blankly for a moment before continuing, "I don't think he's feeling up to it, Gin."

She looked at him for a moment, and anger flashed in her eyes, "He doesn't feel up to it? No one here is happy and having the best time, but that's the point, nothing is going to happen in the two or three hours he could spare to see his godson!" She ranted, and Harry had to force down a lump in his throat as he realized that the two or three hours that he was here could indeed make all the difference in the world, he needed to find Ron, at the very least they could wait for some kind of news together. He couldn't leave another of his best friends on their own.

Ginny was looking at him worriedly now as he had not responded to her.

"Listen, Gin, I have to go and find Ron-"

"What?" she demanded, and Harry felt angry at himself for worrying her so much, "It is James' birthday!"

"I know but I really have to do this," he pleaded with her.

"It was your idea for merlin's sake, Harry!" Ginny roared and Harry noticed that nearly everyone was looking at them now. He kissed Ginny quickly and crossed the room, picking up his son and giving him a firm hug on his way.

"Happy Birthday James! I have to go but I'll see you soon, I promise," he called to him as he lifted a handful of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace, he caught a look at the faces of his very confused guests and his hurt wife and felt immensely guilty for leaving them out of this, but it was for their own good.

"Ron's flat!" he shouted as many fireplaces flashed before him. He stumbled out into Ron's living room and found his best friend sitting on the sofa, with a large bottle of Firewhiskey on the table in front of him.

"Looks like I got here just in time," Harry muttered, as Ron looked up-seemingly unfazed by Harry's entrance.

"Don't worry, I've only had two glassed," Ron laughed in an emotionless voice. Ron conjured another glass and poured one for Harry.

"Thanks, I need this." Harry said calmly, now that he was here he was unsure of what to say to Ron, so he said the first thing that came to his mind, "It will be ok, Ron, it'll all work out."

The minute the words were out of his mouth he regretted them, they sounded false and even Harry didn't believe them. Ron looked at him, shocked and angry.

"Didn't you read that note Harry? It will not be ok! They're going to kill her and it's all our bloody fault, that stupid plan, we should never have tried to trick him, Harry, what were we thinking?" He said in an anguished tone.

"I know, Ron, but what can we do about it now? We don't know anything and we certainly don't have any leads. It's all a waiting game now, mate." Harry responded, calmly, as he drained his glass of Firewhiskey.

"I can stand it, Harry!" Ron raged, as he let out a sound halfway between a sob and a groan, "What if we never see her again and I can't…I can't"

Ron stopped speaking abruptly, as if he remembered that Harry was there. But, unfortunately for him, Harry wasn't in a mood to let this go-maybe the Firewhiskey had gone to his head.

"You can't what Ron?" Harry pressed him.

"I am an idiot, Harry," Ron said, in a rush and Harry knew where this was going, "After that fight, I wanted to make up with her, but she wouldn't talk to me and I was so angry! And then I ran into Lavender a few weeks later, and all I could think about was making her jealous nut after I got back with Lavender, Hermione told me she would never forgive me for that and then I have been stuck with lavender for the last few years and now I feel so bad for using her too!"

"Oh God! You wanted to make her jealous? What age are you Ron?" Harry shouted, all of his anger coming out. His best friends hadn't spoken in years, and refused to be in the same room as each other because Ron wanted to make her jealous? Maybe it was because she wasn't here, or maybe it was because she was his sister but Harry was suddenly furious at Ron's childish behaviour, if Hermione didn't come back then the last few years of her life would have been miserable because of this, Harry knew, more than anyone, that Hermione still loved Ron too and he couldn't believe that the reason they were separated for so long was Lavender.

"I love her, Harry, I really do and she hates me," Harry's anger abated immediately at hearing his friend sound so defeated.

"Come on Ron, calm down," Harry said, with a new found conviction; he would not allow his friend to remain so unhappy, he knew that, somehow, they had to find her now because Harry had waited years for Ron to admit that he loved her again and he would make sure Hermione heard this too, "We will find her and then, you better tell her this or I will kill YOU!"

They both laughed briefly for a moment before launching into their own thoughts.

"_Ron"_

Harry sat up straight, as he searched the room for the source of the sound. It sounded like…but it couldn't be…right? Ron gave a bark-like laugh and Harry turned his attention to him,

"I swear, I'm going mad Harry, I am hearing her voice in my head now," he declared before burying his head in his hands. Excitement bubbled in Harry, like he hadn't felt since this whole ordeal began.

"Ron! I heard it too!" he shouted, barely able to contain himself, Ron looked up and an overwhelming look of hope passed over his face, reminding Harry of the true Ron, that he hadn't seen since Hermione was taken.

"Well, what was it?" He yelped, as they both began to frantically search the room for the source of the sound.

"_Ron"_

They both looked up at the fireplace, sure that it was where the found was coming from now. Ron stepped forward and reached behind the clock to grab something. Harry couldn't see the object as it was hidden in Ron's hand as he looked at it.

Ron looked up at Harry and grinned triumphantly. "I bloody love Albus Dumbledore!" he declared as Harry saw the object in his hand. The Deluminator!

"It'll take us to her, won't it?" Harry asked happily.

"We'll it did last time, we need to go now. Have you got your wand?" Ron replied

"Of course, but Ron wait!" Ron had grabbed a cloak and was about to disapparate, he looked at Harry confusedly, "We need to call a meeting at tell everyone and-"

Harry fell silent at the look of utter disbelief Ron was giving him.

"Are you joking, Harry?" he shouted, "You read that note, we need to go now! We don't have any time, they'll kill her!"

Harry was about to object but he realized that Ron was right, they needed to find her now, besides who else would he trust with something so important?

"You're right, let's go," he said as he walked over to Ron and gripped his shoulder. Ron clicked the Deluminator and a small ball of blue light appeared and went into Ron. Harry felt himself being pulled, by Ron, into darkness as they twisted into the air.

Hermione's POV

She woke a while later and heard the sound of a thud outside the large door to her cell, she sat up straight and tried to ignore the intense pain she felt, as she did so. The door to her cell opened and she backed herself into the corner as the cloaked figure entered, she remembered what she had heard about her fate not too long ago and she would fight these people no matter what.

"Stay away from me!" She warned the Doom Soldier. He rushed towards her and she felt tears sting at her eyes, hadn't she cried enough today? The Doom Soldier ignored her and walked into a small beam of light, so she could now see his face. His very familiar face. Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks as she looked into the familiar blue eyes.

"Ron?" She gasped in shock. He smiled at her and nodded, as her ran to her and embraced her in a hug.

"Come on, we need to leave." She tried to fallow him out the door, but her legs collapsed under her painfully. Ron realized that she was hurt and only seconds from passing out altogether, he lifted her into his arms and ran from the room. They entered the hallway outside her cell and, although it was dark, she could see 5 bodies of Doom Soldiers lying stunned on the ground. They entered the large room that she had been to many times to be tortured and found Harry duelling another Doom Soldier. The Soldier looked up at their arrival and Harry used this to his advantage,

"STUPEFY!" He shouted, as the Doom Soldier flew to the ground.

"Harry, we need to leave now, St Mungo's!" Ron yelled, as I felt my head drift backwards and spin. I saw Harry running towards us, as I felt Ron turn us on the spot. I caught a glimpse of more Doom Soldiers and Lestrange running at us before everything went black, once again.

Review Please


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Harry's POV

He and Ron were sitting on the hard benches in the corridor of St Mungos, they had arrived 2 hours ago and Hermione had immediately been made top priority of the hospital, she was the most famous witch of her generation, after all. Harry had informed the Weasley family and Hermione's parents that she had been found but he told them that they couldn't come to see her yet, it was 3:30 in the morning and the hospital had barely allowed harry and Ron to stay but they had made up a story about being there for protection and were allowed to stay. He healers were still trying to help Hermione; no one had come out of her room in hours.

The waiting was unbearable and Harry didn't understand what was actually happened to her, Ron had been almost completely silent since they had arrived and the only thing Harry had gotten out of him was that Hermione was hurt when he found her. This scared Harry as he thought of Lestrange's note and he hoped that he never got a chance to act on his plans.

He had felt so over-joyed when he saw Ron and Hermione running towards him that he had missed the tell-tale signs that something was wrong, it was only now that he thought of it he realized how silly it was for him to believe that she would be completely ok after being subjected for God-knows-what for nearly two weeks.

New footsteps echoed through the corridor, Harry and Ron both stood quickly as the healer headed towards them, she looked around 40 with dark black hair and stressed blue eyes, she seemed shocked when she looked at them and he supposed she recognised the two of them,

"You two are here for Miss Granger, correct?" she didn't wait for an answer and Harry was never so grateful for the fame of the Golden Trio, if it meant that they could be told about Hermione without being related, "She is resting now, when she came in she was in a bad shape, due to, what looks like, multiple cruciatus curses at the same time, and quite frequently,"

She paused and spared them a sympathetic look as she allowed them to absorb this information. Harry looked at Ron and saw his entire body shaking, with anger or sobs, Harry didn't know but he felt the same. He thought back to all those years ago, after Malfoy Manor, when Ron and Harry had promised her that she would never have to go through anything like that again. The guilt was tearing him apart as he realized that they had let her down yet again. He looked up at the healer and asked her to continue, it was clear to him that Ron was incapable of speech right now.

"She will probably need a lot of help to recover from the emotional effect of that and she will still feel weak and sore when she wakes up but it shouldn't leave any permanent effect on Miss Granger. There was also a lot of bruising, suggesting physical violence,

"Bloody pigs!" Ron muttered furiously

"But we have managed to clean up any wounds, only bruises remain," continued the healer, as if she had not heard Ron's rude interruption, "and, if you make sure to remain calm," she said this while glaring at Ron pointedly, "then you may go in and she her for a short while, make your visit brief, she will need her rest."

They didn't need telling twice, they thanked the healer and entered the double doors to the large private room Hermione had been given, yet another privilege of being a war hero. As Harry followed Ron towards the bed in the middle of the room, he heard Ron gasp as he saw her. She was lying down with her head turned away from them, but they could see the bruises along her face and neck all too clearly, it seemed that in their haste to rescue Hermione, both Ron and Harry had missed how injured she was. She was incredibly thin and had clearly not eaten much, if anything, since she was taken but the worst thing was how weak and broken she looked.

When he reached her, Harry placed his hand carefully on hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze, as Ron leaned down and kissed her cheek delicately. Hermione turned round and opened her eyes, she gave them a warm smile as a few tears escaped her eyes, and in that instant Harry knew that, somehow, she would be ok and she would make it through this.

"Hey guys," Hermione whispered in a hoarse and tired voice, "Thanks for finding me."

"Well, what else would we have done, eh?" Ron smiled, as the three of them chuckled weakly, and strangely enough, to Harry, it felt that everything was right in the world again.

The trio spent the next 60 minutes properly catching up. They reminisced about their years at Hogwarts and the many adventures they had been on together. They talked about their lives and careers in the last few years and they truly enjoyed each other's company for the first time in years, until the Healer came in and chased them out of the room to allow Hermione some rest.

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

When Ron entered Hermione's room the next day he found the Grangers, Ginny, Harry, Neville and Luna already there. His took a deep breath when he looked at Hermione and noticed, once again, the cuts and bruises covering her skin and her pale, tired face, he hadn't noticed how injured she was in his haste to get her away from the Doom Soldiers; however in the cold light of day it was impossible not to notice them now. When he put a bouquet of flowers down on her bedside table she looked up at him, a large smile broke across her face and made his heart sped up considerably.

"Hey guys," he said to the room at large, while nodding politely to Hermione's parents. Mrs Granger immediately rushed over to Ron and hugged him firmly,

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear, as Hermione rolled her eyes, apologetically, at him.

"So, we were just discussing James' birthday, Ron," Ginny informed him, Ron knew he was in for it now, with the glare she was directing between him and Harry, "Obviously with you not turning up and Harry leaving half way through-"

"It was for a good reason, Gin!" Harry protested, as most of he room sniggered at Harry's attempt to stop Ginny's rant.

"Oh, I know it was for the best possible reason," Ginny continued, smiling at Hermione, "However, you could have told someone, instead of panicking everyone when you didn't return until 5 in the morning." She paused here to glare at the very guilty looking Harry, "But, that isn't the point, I was thinking we should have another, smaller get together for James, his parents and his godparents, seeing as it was you two who didn't see him."

Ron nodded and quickly agreed, and so did Hermione but she looked thoroughly confused.

Why didn't you see him Ron?" she asked him,

"Well, I was going to but I was kind of late, and then Harry came over and, you know, we had a break-through and knew how where to find you." He knew he was now a bright shade of red, and avoiding looking at Harry. Ron had no intention of attending his godson's party, as Harry knew, but he really couldn't admit that he was laying at home heart-broken.

"Well, what was the break-through? How did you two find me?" Hermione asked, Ron knew that she was trying to change the subject after seeing his discomfort but he really didn't want to talk about the Deluminator and what it did in front of everyone, thankfully Harry intervened,

"Well, we can discuss this later, at a more private environment, but let's just say that it was similar to how a certain tent was found." He told her, with a significant look, Hermione nodded and to Ron's enormous surprise she blushed scarlet at what Harry said.

"I swear, you three have codes for everything, you're way too good at keeping secrets," Neville muttered and the whole room laughed. Ron heard the door opening, but didn't look round; he assumed that one of the Healers had come to check on Hermione, again.

"Hermione!" the person exclaimed. Ron looked up, and scowled, as he recognised the man he had seen at Hermione's apartment rushing towards her and hug her tightly. Hermione flinched a little at the contact and Ron felt angry that this Tim, idiot, didn't realize what she had been through and that she needed a bit of calm around her, but he did feel quite pleased with himself as he remembered that she had not shrink away from him and Harry when they had greeted her last night.

"Thank God, you're ok, I was so worried when Ginny told me what happened, and I only found out a few minutes ago that you were here, no one said anything," he blurted out in a rush. Ron glared at his sister, who was pointedly not looking at him, how dare she tell this twat anything, he wasn't in the order and didn't deserve to know anything!

"I suppose we had better give the four of you some time to get to know each other and catch up," Luna said, in her usual dreamy voice, looking at the Grangers and Tim. The others nodded and Ron, rather reluctantly, followed them out of the room after muttering a quick goodbye to Hermione, who looked quite sad that they were leaving.

When they left the room, Ron made to walk towards the elevator but Harry stopped him,

"Gin, can you wait for me downstairs, I need a word with Ron," he commanded, leaving little room for Ron, or Ginny, to object,

"You really shouldn't let him boss you around like that Ginny," he teased them in a sing-song voice; however Ginny simply ignored him and walked away from the pair of them.

"Well?" Harry demanded the minute Ginny was out of hearing range and Ron decided his best shot was to act dumb, even though he was sure what Harry was about to bring up.

"Well what?" he asked innocently.

"Don't be an arse, Ron, last night you told me you were still completely in love with her, and you were heartbroken that you wouldn't get to tell her that. What are you going to do?"

Ron considered this for a moment, and the honest answer was that he didn't want to lose her again if she knew he still loved her, when she wouldn't feel the same. Why should she, after all that he had done to her, still love him? They had only started talking a few weeks ago, really, and, after the kidnapping, he really couldn't face another 3 years of silence because he couldn't keep his trap shut. However he didn't want to admit this to anyone, especially his best mate who would surely use this against him.

"I really don't see how this is any of your business, Harry, so just drop it and, anyway, I only said all that crap because I was drunk, I didn't mean it," Ron told him angrily.

"No, Ron, I won't, it's my business because you are my two best friends and I have watched you both be miserable for way too long, sooner or later you are both going to have to wake up to your feelings or you'll regret it and don't bother saying you were drunk because I knew this long before you actually admitted it."

"Enough, Harry, you are not going to change my mind on this, she has a boyfriend anyway, why would she care about me?"

Then Harry did something completely unexpected and, in Ron's opinion, rather rude. Harry started chuckling madly, as if recalling an old memory.

"What the hell are you cackling at?" Ron demanded, "You're going crazy!"

"Sorry, it's just, it's like being back in sixth year again," Harry said before walking away to find Ginny, laughing all the way. Ron watched him go, feeling completely lost, what did any of this have to do with sixth year? He reached the conclusion that his best mate was finally losing his mind.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Hermione's POV

Hermione smiled when she sat on her bed, waiting to be discharged, she could finally go home. It had been about a week since she was found and now the healers were completely sure that she was ok to leave. However, she was quite annoyed that she was now banned from going back to work for two reasons. The first was that she was still recovering from the torture and she couldn't _overexert_ or _overwhelm_ herself. Hermione thought this completely ridiculous but didn't argue with the healers since the second reason was actually valid. The second reason Hermione couldn't return to work, or leave the hospital on her own, was that the Order feared Lestrange would try and come after her again, he definitely wouldn't be pleased that she had escaped, right before he was about to kill her, so this basically meant that she couldn't go anywhere without some kind of protection from the Order, which she found entirely irritating and ridiculous since she certainly didn't need anyone's help, least of all a couple of kids the Order recruited.

The door to her room opened suddenly and Hermione smiled happily when she noticed who entered,

"What are you two doing here?" she said, shocked, "I thought we were meeting up later?"

"Happy to see us?" Ron asked her, grinning cheekily. Hermione rolled her eyes but she was honestly glad to see that he was looking more cheerful, the last few times he had visited her he looked quite depressed.

"We are here to take you to Grimmauld Place, we have a few things to discuss," Harry told her, he and Ron exchanged a wary look.

"What?" Hermione demanded, she knew the both of them too well, "and why am I going to Grimmauld place? I am supposed to be going home today."

"Calm down Hermione, there was a complication but we are taking care of it, we can't talk here though, so come on," she calmed down instantly at Ron's words and nodded calmly.

"Ok, we better go, we have a lot to get through," Harry said, clearly relieved that she was not going to argue anymore.

"Yeah, sure, I just have to get my stuff,"

"Don't worry, we'll get it," Ron said, rushing forward to grab her bags, Harry was smirking as he followed, evidently amused at something. The trio left the hospital and, five minutes later, found themselves on the doorstep of Grimmauld Place. Hermione began speaking the minute they were inside the house,

"So, what's going on, why am I here?"

Both boys looked at each other and exchanged a grin,

"What was that about?"

"Just glad to have you back," Harry said, as Ron nodded, and the three of them smiled at each other for a moment.

They moved into the comfy living room and sat down in the large armchairs. Harry took a thin folder out of a locked drawer and pushed it towards her.

"This is everything we know about Lestrange and the Doom Soldiers," Harry began, "you will know most of the first few pages, they are just accounts of the ministry attack. The next few pages cover the period when you were taken and the theories that we had at the time, there was absolutely nothing helpful found at your house."

Hermione nodded as she flicked on through the folder, she stopped abruptly after catching sight of a torn piece of parchment with small scribbly writing, a similar one placed underneath it, and she felt the colour drain from her face as she read over the notes.

"W-what are these?" she managed to choke out, dreading the answer.

"They are two messages sent to us by Lestrange, the first was found when you disappeared and the second was sent to us the day we found you, after a disastrous attempt to by us to trap Lestrange, it was ridiculous really and it could have had fatal consequences," Harry finished gravely, something about a trap planned by the Order stuck in Hermione's mind but she pushed away the thoughts, too preoccupied with the little messages to care.

"What else have you got?"

"Absolutely nothing," Ron told her, speaking for the first time since arriving, "We couldn't catch any of the Doom Soldiers when we found you, there was only two of us and you needed help so we left, but we sent my brothers and a few others to check the place while we waited in the hospital."

"When they got there it was completely empty, every trace of them had been removed within an hour or so," she nodded as Harry's words sunk in.

"Well, what are we going to do then?" she asked them

"I was thinking," Harry said, casting a nervous glance at Ron, "if you could tell us everything that you remember, what they did to you and anything that you may have heard while you were there? It could help us, and it will also build a case against him, we can do this like a normal interview, so don't worry about it being us that asks you, ok?"

Hermione swallowed loudly, she would do anything to help Ron and Harry but she really didn't want to relive those awful, awful memories that seemed worse than anything she went through in the war. She looked up again and found Ron staring at her with concerned eyes.

"Harry, I don't think now's the best time, we can do this later," Ron said, Hermione smiled at him for his concern before answering,

"No, it's ok, I'll tell you. It might help, right?" The boys nodded encouragingly and she gave her consent for them to begin. Harry took out some Quick Quills to record the interview.

"Ok, Auror Harry Potter and Auror Ron Weasley interviewing Hermione Granger about her time with the group that call themselves, "Doom Soldiers" that kidnapped her, Benjamin Lestrange is the supposed leader of this group, uncovered by the investigating of the Order of the Phoenix." Harry said and motioned for Ron to begin questioning,

"What do remember of the morning you were taken?"

Hermione cleared her throat and reminded herself that this was going to be the easiest part of the interview, "When I woke up, I went into the kitchen, I could tell that someone had been in my flat because the place was a mess, there was cups, plates and glasses everywhere, even though I had cleaned the night before. I knew I wouldn't stand a chance if there was more than one person so I ran towards the fireplace, intending on going to Harry's b-but before I got there someone g-grabbed me, they pulled me backwards onto the ground, and wrapped ropes around me."

Harry and Ron were shaking with anger, but Harry seemed to realize that the best thing to do would be to go on with the interview,

"How many people were there?" he asked her.

"There was definitely a few Doom Soldiers there, but I only seen Lestrange, it was h-him who had p-pulled me down." Her voice shook as she recounted her tale.

"Ok, how did you know it was Lestrange and what did he look like?" Harry said, quietly, after allowing her a few moments to compose herself.

"He had black curly hair, and black eyes, he was around our age. I knew he was Lestrange from the start but he also confirmed it on several occasions."

Harry nodded, and looked at her sympathetically before he asked his next question and Hermione knew by the look he gave her, it was this question she was dreading.

"During the time you were there what did they do to you?"

Hermione took a deep, steadying breath before answering; she didn't want to talk about this to anyone, least of all her two best friends, who would not like hearing this.

"They wanted information on the order of the Phoenix. They wanted to know the headquarters' location, the members we have and what leads we may have had on the ministry attack. I wouldn't tell them. They had the same r-routine every day," at the thought of that routine, Hermione shivered involuntarily and a few tears streamed down her face. Hermione suddenly felt strong arms around her shoulders and she leaned into Ron.

"We can stop now and do this later," he whispered comfortingly in her ear but she shook her head determinedly,

"No, I want to get this over with," she told him in a whisper, and continued her story with Ron's arms wrapped around her, "They brought me into a room in the morning, they spent hours trying to get information out of me, around seven hours a day…"

"How did they try and get the information, Hermione?" Harry asked when she remained silent for a few minutes, both him and Ron clearly dreading the answer.

"They used the Cruciatus Curse repeatedly for hours, there…there was a-always several people using it at the s-same time," Ron's arms tightened, protectively around her as both he and Harry let out shouts of rage.

"THOSE BLOODY MONSTERS! I'LL KILL THEM!" Ron roared, still holding onto her for dear life.

"I'LL HELP!" Harry vowed, "How dare them? Evil and twisted, they are!"

Hermione had enough; she hated hearing them so upset, especially when it was because of her, "You two calm down now, we can take a break and then we need to finish this damn interview so that we can find this lunatic before he hurts anyone else!" she commanded, though her voice shook slightly with tears.

Both boys immediately calmed down and looked ashamed at their behaviour, though Hermione realized this were only because they annoyed her. They had a 20 minute break, in which all three of them gained control of their emotion, before resuming the interview,

"Hermione," Ron said, from the armchair across from her, and Hermione felt foolish when she realized that she would rather have him over holding her again, "What did you hear, or notice, while you were there?"

"I didn't really hear anything, they never discussed anything important in front of me," Hermione stated in a emotionless voice, wanting to distance herself from the whole ordeal, "I was interrogated by Lestrange but I never even so much as heard any of the others speak, well, except when…when…oh no!" Hermione cut off mid-sentence, realization dawning on her, she had heard them speak! She had eagerly anticipated the whole conversation! But, at the time, the end of the conversation had meant so much that she had not focused on the first part. It was the night she knew they were going to kill her. She had the voices, and in the aftermath, had completely forgotten what they were talking about initially. Her brain, going a hundred miles an hour, connected the pieces easily. Harry and Ron. The Order trick. Revenge. Sources in the Order.

Hermione gasped in horror, and shock, how could she have forgotten? This was possibly the most important thing to come out of her kidnapping and she forgot it? A million thoughts rushing through her mind, she failed to notice the concerned looks her two best friends were giving her, but the most obvious thought in her mind was "Who?" Who, out of her friends and those she considered her family, would ever betray them? She couldn't think of anyone.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't make a sound.

"What is it, Hermione?" Ron asked her, his deep blue eyes staring worriedly into her own brown ones. She cleared her throat a few times, to find her voice, before speaking again,

"I heard them, outside my cell, the night you found me." She told them, not wanting to inform them of an obvious betrayal, but having to nonetheless, "There were two Doom Soldiers outside; they were talking about you two, and a plan to trick Lestrange."

Harry and Ron looked at each other, they were clearly wondering what about this was so bad and had her so upset, little did they know. "Oh God," she thought to herself, this will change everything and make the entire operation ten times more complicated.

"It was mostly the usual stuff, you know? How much they hate the three of us and that they wanted revenge for the war. But when they talked about your trap, they said Lestrange was angry and that you would pay for it. They said that you should have known that you could never trick Lestrange, and…and that he had s-s-sources in the Order."

She finished speaking and looked up at her boys, Harry looked shocked and disbelieving but Ron, he looked downright terrifyingly furious,

"In the Order?" Ron demanded, and Hermione briefly wondered if he didn't believe her, but he was looking at Harry, "Someone in the Order was in contact with him and helped him, even though they knew you were kidnapped? They listened in on our meetings and pretended to be concerned!"

Harry nodded gravely, "I don't know how much more I can take, first an auror, now someone in the Order, they're meant to be our closest friends! They are meant to be the people we can trust more than anyone! Who?" he demanded looking at them, and Hermione wished, more than ever, that she knew who was making this, already terrible, situation so, so much worse. Before she could think anymore, however, there was the sound of several pops, people were arriving.

"Shit!" Ron exclaimed, "The Order's coming now for a meeting, what are we going to do now?"

Hermione felt just as panicked as him, but Harry seemed to gain control and their panic cleared his mind,

"This is what we're going to do…"

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

The Order filled into the large dining room, used for meetings but before taking their usual place around the table, there was an enormous shriek as Hermione tried to duck out of the Weasley boys', apart from Ron's, grasp when they engulfed her in an enormous hug, laughing to himself as they released her, grinning from ear to ear. Most of the other Order members, particularly their old school friends, soon followed their lead and Hermione was given a very emotional welcome home, they had been quite worried about her and wanted to make sure she was ok with their own eyes. Molly Weasley released Hermione from a bone crushing hug and Harry seen Lavender come up behind her.

Most of the room looked wary and held their breath as she approached his best friend, Harry tightened his hold on his wand, in case he had to separate the two witches and saw Ron through Hermione an apologetic look, he seemed sure that whatever was about to come could not be good, which was probably true considering Lavender's words about not putting so much effort into finding Hermione in one of their previous meetings.

What happened next shocked the whole room into silence, Lavender embraced Hermione in a tight hug and Harry saw tears in her eyes, as she whispered to her, "I'm so glad you're ok!" Despite the odd situation, Harry felt an overwhelming desire to laugh at the awkward way Hermione patted Lavender's back, with Lavender's arms still around her.

"Ok, we had better get started, then," Ron said in a bewildered voice, Hermione throwing him a grateful look in the process.

"So, what's the latest?" George asked happily, smirking amusedly in Hermione's direction and Harry thought it best to speak quickly before George decided to mention what had just happened.

"We are no closer to catching Lestrange than we were before he found Hermione," Harry told them sadly, "But we do know what he wants now."

"What is it then?" Dean asked cautiously, when no one had spoken for a few minutes.

"He wants revenge," Hermione said, speaking for the first time and Harry had to admire her Gryffindor courage taking part in these meetings so soon after her traumatic experience, "He is seeking revenge on us three firstly but he also wants control, like Voldemort.

"Why?" Molly demanded angrily, "He wasn't even here during the war and you three did nothing to his mother, who he was certainly better off without anyway, if he is taking revenge on anyone it should be m-me."

Ron spoke up, looking angry at the prospect of his mother being a target, "We don't know why he personally wants revenge on us three, obviously his followers would want to target us anyway but all the clues suggest that it is him that is going after us," he continued in a gentler voice, "you are not a target, mum, I don't think it is well enough known that it was you that got Bellatrix, anyway."

The room fell silent again, the Weasley parents left the room, and Harry assumed that they were upset that they're son, their son in law and the girl who was like a daughter to them, were once again in a huge amount of danger.

"The three of us have decided that it is better to postpone this investigation, until something else happens," Harry said nervously, and as he expected, the entire room went into uproar.

"You can't be serious-"

"...not laying down and taking this-"

"Mad man still on the loose-"

"You three have lost it!"

"…supposed to be Gryffindor's!"

"Everyone, quiet!" Hermione demanded and harry silently marvelled at how the entire room listened to her immediately, after ignoring his and Ron's protests completely, "We have spoken to the minister and he agrees that this case should be put on hold until something of importance happens."

"Anyway," Harry said, putting their plan in place, "We have reason to believe that Lestrange won't bother us again, his attempted kidnap didn't work and that was his goal; to kidnap and kill one of us, so he tried and failed."

More or less the entire room looked incredulous at the trio's ridiculous assumption but no one argued with the threat of the minister, like he had known they wouldn't. The meeting ended and everyone except the trio went home, Ginny left a few minutes ago, after making sure that Harry would tell her the truth when he got home.

"So, this is it?" Ron said, "A private investigation, just the three of us again, it's like the Hogwarts days."

The other two laughed and nodded,

"With any luck," Hermione said, "The traitor will tell Lestrange that we have given up, he will think that we are unprepared and that he has time and then…"

"And then we will catch him," Harry finished for her. She and Ron smiled at him and then each other,

"So we will meet here tomorrow, sometime, and go over everything again," Ron said and Harry and Hermione agreed quickly. Harry left to talk to Ginny, Ron disapparated home to his flat and Hermione went upstairs, she would be staying at Grimmauld Place since her flat was unsafe now (which was the complication Ron poke of earlier), all of them feeling like they could solve this mission with each other, just like their Hogwarts adventures.

_**Can everyone review and tell me what you think please xx**_


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Hermione's POV

Hermione, Ron and Harry sat in the living room of Grimmauld Place, their regular morning meeting just finished. After the discovery of a traitor in the Order, the trio decided to continue their meetings in private every morning from around 9am to 10am to talk over the case, although they had not made any more discoveries they thought if they continued to talk about it one of the three of them may have an epiphany, like so many times in their school years, and they could make an important break-through. They weren't getting far, though, it had been week since they decided to remove the Order from the investigation and nothing significant or relevant had happened since Harry and Ron had rescued Hermione, almost two weeks ago. To the average wizard or witch, it would seem as if Benjamin Lestrange had given up but the trio knew that Lestrange was just biding his time, waiting and planning for his next opportunity to arise.

"So, what are you two doing today, because Ginny wants to have that, very late, birthday dinner with James and us tonight, around six," Harry said, breaking the silence as they packed away the Lestrange folder.

"Yeah, I'll be there, I'm going over to mum and dads for the afternoon, though. Apparently mum thinks I don't come over enough and wants to make sure that I am well fed, she sent me a howler about it yesterday," Ron said, rolling his eyes as Harry and Hermione smirked at him.

"Are you doing anything today, Hermione, now that you have your freedom again?" Harry pressed her.

"I'm going out with a friend for the afternoon, but I will definitely be there tonight." She replied, smiling at the reminder of her recent liberation.

Hermione was given permission by her healers to return to work a few days ago, as long as she didn't over-do it. But she still had to stay at Grimmauld Place, since her wards clearly weren't strong enough, in all honesty Hermione was glad that she didn't have to go back there yet, it gave her the creeps to think that the man who had tortures her for over constantly for over a week had been in a home. The best thing about the Order being misled on the investigation was that she no longer had to be accompanied wherever she went, why would they have to accompany her when Lestrange, supposedly, wasn't a threat anymore? Despite this, Ron, and sometimes Harry, insisted on traveling with her to work every morning to make sure she arrived safely and although she resented the fact that they didn't think she was capable of going to work, she was really happy to spend more time with them, especially since she and Ron were beginning to find their friendship again.

"Who are you going out with? Luna? If it is can you ask her about the plant she sent me, it kept attacking me the other day, until I locked it away" Ron asked her, Harry laughed at Ron but Hermione squirmed in her seat, she didn't know why but she still felt extremely uncomfortably discussing Tim with Ron, probably because he was her ex.

"No, it's not Luna, its Tim. And you don't know what plant it is. It sounds very interesting. You should ask Neville, he'll probably know, unless it's one of Luna's creatures." She babbled, in a transparent attempt to change the subject but Ron's eyes continued to bore into her.

"Can you really trust him?" Ron asked bluntly, and Hermione felt a surge of anger rush through her, what right did he have to suggest Tim shouldn't be trusted?

"Can you really trust Lavender?" she shot back, ruthlessly, in a condescending tone. Tim was definitely better than Lavender, well to Hermione everyone was. Ron gave her a very dirty look; clearly she had overstepped the mark in his eyes. There was a few minutes of silence, neither party going to admit defeat, until Harry intervened, he was probably trying the avoid another huge fallout.

"Well, I think Tim seems ok, Ginny really like him anyway," Harry said. Both Hermione and Ron's head shot up at this comment.

"When did Ginny meet him?" Ron demanded, while Hermione felt a blush creep onto her cheeks, she remember a few weeks ago, when that article about her and Tim came out, Ginny coming into the apartment and finding her and Tim in a very intimate position but that hardly counted as meeting him, right?

"Oh, not that time," Harry said, smirking evilly at her, clearly Ginny had told her husband when exactly she first met Tim, Hermione shot Harry a warning look, as Ron looked confusedly between a smirking Harry and a blushing Hermione.

"What time?" Ron asked suspiciously and Hermione desperately prayed for a hole to come along and swallow her up at this moment, she was certain her skin had such a red blush that it would make a Weasley proud.

"Never, you, mind!" Hermione scowled in Ron's direction, too embarrassed to look him in the eye.

"Ginny meet Tim, properly," Harry said, with a wink in her direction, "when you were taken Hermione, she couldn't do much because of the pregnancy so she took it upon herself to inform him, and your parents, about it all and what we were doing to find you."

"Oh, well that was good, I suppose, I should thank her," Hermione muttered absentmindedly.

"Yeah, well, Gin said that he was really worried and scared for you. I'm sure he's trustworthy," he spoke the end of the sentence to Ron, who's ears had gone very red in the last few minutes. He nodded and they spent the next ten minutes in awkward silence before Ron stood up.

"Well then, I better go, mum's expecting me," Ron said stiffly, he waved to them briefly before going outside to disapparate, leaving Harry and Hermione alone.

"I can't believe Ginny told you that, don't ever mention it in company again!" Hermione growled at Harry, who was looking much too amused for her liking.

"Yeah, yeah have fun today though, I'm sure Ginny will be dying to hear all the details later," Harry said, he kissed her cheek and rushed out the door, probably to go into the office for a while.

Hermione climbed the stairs of Grimmauld Place and rushed into her room. She opened the doors of her temporary wardrobe and selected a pretty blue, floral summer dress that flattered her very well. She changed and applied a small amount of make-up, leaving her long, wavy curls down and apparated to the address Tim had sent her. When she arrived she felt a gasp rise in her throat, as she took in her surroundings.

Hermione was standing on a beautiful and flowery meadow, which was overlooking the vast, blue ocean. In the middle if the meadow there was a blanket laid out on the grass, with a picnic set up. Tim was sitting in on the blanket, smiling happily at her.

Hermione joined him and the two of them sent an hour eating the delicious food Tim had brought and chatting to each other.

"Well, this is amazing but what's the occasion?" she asked him contently, she was surprised when Tim pulled her over and took her hands in his.

"Well, today is our nine month anniversary," he smiled, "and I wanted to tell you something."

Hermione felt like she was missing something, a feeling she never liked, so she nodded and encouraged him to continue, unsure of where this conversation was going.

"The last nine months have been the happiest I have ever been in my entire life, Hermione, because of you. I love you, everything about you, and I was so scared and worried when you were missing that I would never be able to tell you that. I need you in my life, you make it complete, so Hermione," She gasped as she saw Tim pull out a ring box from his pocket, "Will you marry me?"

She couldn't speak. This was not what she was expecting; it was only supposed to be a small date. Hermione couldn't believe he was asking her this, she had only met him nine months ago and although that was her longest relationship in years, neither of them (until now) had even said "I love you." Was she really ready for marriage? She was only 25, after all. But the honest answer was if someone else had asked her, a tall red-head maybe, would she be stalling and delaying her answer right now. No way.

But that is ridiculous, she argued with herself, her and Ron ended years ago, he could be planning on asking Lavender to marry him for all she knew. Could she really afford to reject this proposal on the off chance that she and Ron may, someday, reconcile? But, at the end of the day, a marriage was about love, did she love Tim really?

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

Ron sat in his best friend and sister's living room, playing a game with his godson. Ron knew it was wrong to have a favourite niece or nephew, but James was definitely his. The little boy was so mischievous that he reminded Ron of Fred and George when they were younger.

"Aunty Mione coming?" James asked him, Ron smiled at how much his nephew had missed his godmother, as James had already asked Ron this question five times since his arrival.

"Of course, she'll be here soon," Ron smiled at him.

"She had better be," Ginny muttered, "If she is any later than she is now, she will not get any food from me." James giggled at his mother's comment, which caused Harry, Ron and Ginny to all laugh lovingly at the little boy.

Green flames suddenly appeared in the fireplace, and Hermione stepped out. Ron could not help but notice, once again, how beautiful she looked. She was stunning in a simple blue dress and very little make-up.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," she said quickly, "something came up and I was busy." She didn't get much else out before James ran at her and enveloped her in a huge hug, and insisted on being lifted into her arms.

"Someone missed their godmother," Harry laughed. Hermione smiled weakly but Ron noticed she looked very distracted and even worried?

"Are you ok?" he asked her concernedly, she really didn't look herself at all. Hermione, for the first time ever, looked lost and confused.

"I'm fine, really," she replied, as Ginny ushered the family into the dining room.

"Well, we are all here to celebrate James' birthday, so I have made a small supper and I have a cake ready, so that you can blow out your candles again James." Ginny said her son started clapping excitedly from his spot in Hermione's arms.

The five of them settled down and ate the food Ginny had prepared, happily chatting amongst them. This was the most at home Ron had felt in a long time, possibly years and he wondered why he had waited so long to talk to his best friend again. He had nearly lost her a few weeks ago and what if they hadn't made up? Would she have died hating him and what he done to her? It really was entirely his fault, the break-up; Ron knew exactly what hooking up with Lavender would do to her, and he did it anyway. He had just wanted to make her jealous; she hadn't talked to him in weeks anyway. Ron honestly thought they would get back together almost immediately. Sure, it was one of their more serious fights but he didn't expect it to last for over three years. The bottom line was he missed her.

He remembered the conversation he had with Harry the night they found her; he had meant what he said. Ron loved her more than anything and if something happened, would he regret not telling her this now, while he still has the chance? But she had a boyfriend, it wasn't right to interfere in her relationship, not to mention the fact that it could destroy the friendship they were building up again. He needed her in his life, even just as a friend, and he wouldn't do anything to lose her again.

oo00OO00oo

"Ginny, can I talk to you?" Hermione asked from across the table, the festivities for the evening were over and the birthday boy was tucked in bed. When Ron looked at Hermione, he was shocked. She was shaking and she looked like she was going to cry. Ginny sensed this too and led Hermione out of the living room.

Harry talked to him about Quidditch, but he had never cared less about the game than right now. He tuned Harry out to gather his thoughts, what was wrong with her? Was she ok? Did someone do something to her? Ron wanted, desperately, to run into the room she and Ginny were talking in and demand to know what they were talking about. But he was sure that both witches would kill him immediately for interrupting their "girl-talk".

"Are you ok, Ron?" Harry asked him, probably realizing that he didn't have his best mate's full attention. Before he could answer the girls came out of the room. Ginny looked pale, and completely shocked. But Ron only had eyes for Hermione; she had tear stains down her face and looked like she was struggling not to release anymore tears. Ron desperately wanted to go and wrap his arms around her but he restrained himself.

"I have to go, I'll see you, guys, tomorrow," Hermione muttered as she stepped into the flames and disappeared.

"What happened?" Harry asked in an anxious voice.

But when Ginny answered, she looked directly at Ron.

"Tim proposed to her."

At those four words, Ron's world collapsed around him. Tim proposed. To Hermione. No. It wasn't supposed to happen like that, Ron was supposed to propose to her and they'd get married and have kids and live happily ever after. Ron couldn't deal with this. She meant everything to him and now she was going to marry someone else. He knew what he should ask next but he couldn't bring himself to ask that question, it would make everything so much more final and definite. He could see Harry and Ginny sending him worried looks but he didn't care anymore, the only thing he cared about was Hermione, so he forced himself to choke out the words he was dreading the answer to.

"Is she going to marry him?" he asked Ginny, looking directly into her eyes to tell her that he needed the answer to this question, it didn't matter if Hermione gave her permission to tell or not.

"She doesn't know, she hasn't answered," Ginny told him gently and relief surged through Ron. There was still hope. Thee=re would be no more sitting round feeling sorry for himself and waiting for miracle. He had to fight for her, like he should of at the Yule Ball, during 6th Year, in the tent and like he should have three years ago.

**Author's Note:**** Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, they were really helpful and I want to say that I am going to try and update once a week, at least from now on. Please review this chapter and tell me what you think xxx **


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

After the events of last night, Harry would have liked to sleep in until noon, it was Sunday after all and the only day of the week that he didn't have to go into the auror office at all. However he was awakened at 8am due to a loud knocking on his front door,

"Leave it," Ginny said from beside him, "Whoever it is will go away."

Harry rolled over at tried to block up the knocking but it continued for another 5 minutes.

"Maybe I should just answer the bloody door."

"No but if they wake James, I will kill them!" Ginny growled in an irritated voice. The knocking stopped and Harry thanked his lucky stars, now he could stay in bed and enjoy his day off. Harry turned around to Ginny and wrapped his arms around her before closing his eyes tightly.

_Knock, knock._

Harry and Ginny jumped up, that was their bedroom door getting knocked on now. Who the hell was this?

"Harry open up, I need your help." Ron called through the door.

"Oh merlin, this had better be good Ron, it's eight in the bloody morning!"

Before Ron could reply, little footsteps echoed around the hall. Great, he woke James, so much for his morning off.

"Hey guys, James is up now." Ron said.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE MY BROTHER I AM GOING TO KILL YOU RONALD WEASLEY!" Ginny roared and Harry was surprised that Ron did not leave when he could.

"Come on Harry, please, I really need your help."

"Oh, for god's sake, fine!" Harry muttered as he quickly threw on jeans and a t-shirt and opened the door. James was in his godfather's arms, giggling at the shouting.

"James, go into your mum," Harry said, "I need to help Uncle Ron and I'll see you later." James ran to Ginny immediately, as Harry led Ron to the kitchen. Harry quickly made himself coffee, not bothering to ask if Ron wanted any, and sat down across from him.

"Now, what was so important that you had to break into my house at eight in the morning when you should be at work?" Harry demanded.

"I really need your help Harry."

"Well, I think we have established that." Ron glared at him and Harry sighed, "Ok, what do you need help with?"

"Um, do remember what we were talking about on the night of James birthday party, you now, when we were at mine?" Ron asked timidly and Harry's eyes widened in realization; that was what this was about?

"I think I know, but I'm not sure, what was it again?" Harry said, not wanting to make this too easy on Ron, he had woke him up early for this after all.

"Come on Harry, help me out here. We were talking about Hermione and that I, um, you know, still love her." He finished in a very quiet voice and Harry was shocked. He really didn't expect Ron to admit this and definitely not sober.

"No, no Ron, when I asked you about that you said you were drunk, that you didn't mean it." Harry said, he knew that was not why Ron said it but Harry was a little annoyed that it took Ron 4 years to realize this, when everyone else knew.

"Harry, don't be an arse, I know I said that but I was lying and now she's going to be engaged." Ron finished by putting his head in his hands and Harry felt a rush of sympathy for his friend, he didn't know what he would do if Ginny was engaged to someone else but, then again, he couldn't see himself getting back with an old girlfriend to spite Ginny.

"Fine, what exactly do you need help with?" Harry asked and Ron brightened up immediately, "But it had better not be doing something to Tim."

"No, no if I wanted to do that I would have talked to the twins, do you think I should?"

"Oh god, what have I got myself into?" Harry groaned to himself.

"Harry," Ron said, now in a serious tone, "I want to get her back."

Harry choked on the sip of coffee he had just taken, "Are you serious?" he demanded.

"Yes, Harry, I am. That's what I need help with; I don't know how to do it!"

"Ron, it's been four years. Why now?"

"Because, I nearly went out of my mind when she was taken and I wanted to tell her then, but I couldn't. In the last few months, talking to her again, I have realized how much I missed her and I really don't want her to marry Tim."

"Ron, I know you don't want to hear this," Harry began gently, "But, what if she does want to marry Tim? It's been four years and, although Hermione has had a couple of boyfriends, they weren't serious, until Tim. You really hurt her with Lavender, and it was me left picking up the pieces and comforting her while she cried over you. She has been with him for nine months. What are you going to do if she doesn't feel the same anymore? And if she does, are you going to run back to Lavender the first time that you have a fight?"

Harry knew this was cruel but he needed to make sure Ron was serious, if Hermione dropped everything for Ron and he hurt her again, Harry didn't know if he could forgive Ron. He never took a side with their fighting, they were usually both wrong, but Hermione was his sister and he hated when he had to comfort her over Ron. The night they found out about Ron and Lavender was almost a year after their break-up and Harry had held Hermione when she cried for hours. Harry would love for his friends to realize that they were perfect for each other, but he couldn't stand in the middle of them if they broke up again. Hell, the only thing that got them talking in four years was the Wizarding World having a disaster!

"Harry, you know how sorry I am about that, I would never do that to her again. I don't know why I went near Lavender in the first place. I know how much I hurt her with Lavender and I wish I could take it back. I'm serious about this, I love her and I will try so much harder if she gives me another chance."

"Ok, I believe you," Harry sighed, "But what if she's happy now and she loves Tim?"

"If she's happy, I will never bring it up again, but I couldn't live with myself if I don't make sure she knows how I feel. Now, how do I tell her?"

Harry sighed; it was going to be a long day.

oo00OO00oo

Ginny's POV

When Ginny came downstairs, 2 hours later, with James in her arms, she found her husband and her favourite brother (not that she would tell him that) whispering animatedly in her kitchen. She frowned, wondering what they could possibly be talking about for so long. She entered the kitchen and sat James in his high chair; Harry smiled at her as she went to make herself and her son breakfast.

"You two have eaten anyway," Ginny muttered, as she looked at the mess they made of her kitchen, wrappers and crumbs laying everywhere, "What have you been talking about?"

Ginny saw Ron glance at Harry before answering, "We were talking about the Order, trying to see who the traitor could be.

"Well, have you any ideas?" she asked, obviously Ron did not wake them up and break into their house to talk about a matter the trio had a meeting about every morning. Harry had told her about everything the trio were still doing but she had agreed to stay out of it for the sake of her baby.

"No, we think the person is in, or close to the Order, it wasn't someone that just overheard something and relayed it to Lestrange, it had to be someone who knew the full plan." Harry said calmly.

Ginny nodded and Ron spoke again.

"It was someone who is informed on everything, the person could simply be close to someone in the Order and they had to have known the basics of our plan, at least. But I can't think of anyone, every single person in the Order is someone that I would trust."

Ginny was deep in thought. It was definitely someone close to or in the Order that knew everything going on. Someone that they didn't know well. Was it a newer member? Or had a trusted person betrayed them? To know about their plans they must've been trusted for a reason.

Ginny gasped as comprehension dawned on her. Tim. She had told him herself everything that was going on, he was close to Hermione and she thought he had a right to know. He was never an official member of the Order so no one considered him as a traitor. Barely anyone knew of his involvement so no one would consider him as a threat. It was the perfect excuse.

"Guys, I can't believe it! How could I have been so stupid! I should have realized straight away that I told him everything! I should have realized," she fumed in an anguished voice, "I told him because I thought he cared for her, I thought he loved her!"

Harry looked confused but Ron was catching on quickly, of course he would never trust a boyfriend of Hermione's but he was right this time! Ginny was furious at herself, her best friend had to endure that torture for so long because she told him.

"What are you talking about Gin?" Harry demanded worriedly.

"Tim." Ron said in a deadly voice, "It was Tim."

"No way, come on guys, Ron I know you don't like him but that doesn't make him the enemy for god's sake!" Harry said and she had to admit they didn't have proof that it was Tim, but who else could it be?

"Ok we don't know for sure that it's Tim but think about it Harry, I was informing him on everything we were doing, he isn't in the Order but he's close to Hermione and he has the perfect set-up, no one would suspect an Order traitor not to be in the Order!"

"It's him, I know it." Ron said. Harry rolled his eyes at Ron's willingness to believe it was Tim.

"Don't you think Hermione would notice? She is the smartest person we know, she wouldn't tell Tim anything if she didn't trust him." Harry spoke calmly.

"Well, Hermione didn't tell him anything," Ginny said in a small voice, "It was me."

Before anyone could say anything else, the fireplace glowed green and Hermione's voice called to them.

"Hello, is anyone in? Ginny? Harry?"

"Ok," Harry said quickly, "We will investigate this, but don't tell Hermione. I don't think that it is him so we need proof."

Ginny nodded quietly but Ron didn't look happy.

"Ron, if you want what we were discussing this morning to work then you can't accuse her boyfriend of being a traitor; we can go and talk to him today."

"Ok then, I won't tell her at the moment."

Ginny and Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Hermione walked into the kitchen. Ginny thought she looked terrible, it was clear she hadn't slept at all last night and Ginny's heart went out to Hermione, she was so unsure last night of whether or not to marry Tim and now he could be a traitor.

Hey guys," she smiled, her smile faltered when she noticed the tense atmosphere in the room, "Is something wrong?" her eyes rested on Ron.

"No, of course not," Harry said, "We were just discussing work."

"Ok then, Ginny I came over to talk to you actually, but if you're busy I can wait," Hermione said tiredly.

"No, no the guys were just leaving, they have something _important_ to do now," Ginny replied as she led Hermione into the living room. She heard Harry and Ron disapparate and hoped that they would get to the bottom of the Tim matter. Ginny hoped that she was wrong, for Hermione's sake, and that the man that asked her to marry him didn't betray her. Hermione started talking the moment that she heard the boys leave.

"I have been up all night and I don't know what to do. I really don't want to hurt Tim." She said quietly and Ginny focused her attention on her friend again, she wanted to tell Hermione to run away from Tim but she couldn't sabotage her friend's chance at happiness on a slight possibility that he wasn't all that he seemed.

"Hermione, the way I see it is, do you love him? Is Tim the person that you want around for the rest of your life? Be sure that he is before that you agree to marry him, for your own sake."

Hermione took in what she said; her whole demeanour showed that she was deep in thought. She was silent for 10 minutes before she answered Ginny, in a very shy and timid voice that only she, Harry and Ron would have ever heard Hermione use.

"I care about him a lot, I really do, he was my first serious boyfriend since…since Ron but I don't see Tim when I picture being married and having a family. I see someone else. If someone asked me who I cared about most in the world, Tim would be quite far down the list. And I know that I am a terrible person for saying that because he loves me so much more than that. He is so nice and caring, and I don't want to hurt him. I think…I think that I am in love with someone else." Hermione said as tears slid down her face.

Ginny had a good guess who the someone else was, but she did not push Hermione anymore. This was probably the first time Hermione had admitted that to herself. Ginny could see how scared Hermione, she didn't know what to do and she had come to Ginny, like last night, for advice.

"Hermione, you can't marry Tim if you don't love him; I know that you don't want to hurt him but it's better for the both of you." Hermione nodded.

"I knew that from the moment he asked me to marry him. I knew that I didn't love him, deep down, but I just feel so horrible," she whispered, "I suppose I had better go and find Tim and tell him."

"No!" Ginny said too loudly, nut she didn't care, Harry and Ron were likely with Tim looking for some proof that he was a traitor and it wouldn't be good if Hermione caught them now, "Why don't you stay here with me and James for the day and relax, I think you need to because, no offence, you look awful!"

"Ok then, I will tell Tim later tonight, or tomorrow."

Ginny smiled but before she walked into the kitchen she turned round to look at Hermione, who was lying down on the sofa.

"By the way, I think you should tell this other guy that you're in love with him, I'm sure he feels the same way." Ginny smirked, she had a good idea why Ron rushed over to her house first thing this morning, the night after Hermione was proposed to, and she thought she could help whatever plan Harry and Ron had come up with along a little.

Hermione shot up, her eyes widened and her cheeks a flaming red, clearly she had forgotten what she had said to Ginny a few minutes before.

"Oh, well, I, um…" she stammered and Ginny's grin widened.

"It's ok, I won't tell anyone," she winked at her friend.

At 5 o'clock Harry and Ron entered the house, Ginny and Hermione had made dinner for them and played with James all day. When Ginny saw them come through the door she rushed over and kissed Harry, before she pulled away she whispered to him, "Is it Tim?"

"No, it wasn't, back to square one now."

Are you sure?" she asked again, she wanted them to make some kind of breakthrough. Harry pulled her into their bedroom, telling Ron and Hermione to watch James.

"It's definitely not Tim, we invited him over to Ron's after; we said we wanted to get to know him because of Hermione. We gave him Veritaserum and started asking questions that would involve Lestrange, like "Have you ever seen him?" "What were you thinking when Hermione was gone?" He probably thought that were trying to intimidate him because of Hermione but it is not Tim, we're sure."

"Ok, that's good but what now? We are no closer to solving this bloody crap!" Ginny said, frustrated.

"I don't know," Harry said, sounding equally disappointed, "You didn't tell Hermione did you?"

"No, she wanted to talk about his proposal, she was making a decision." Ginny replied.

"Well, is she going to marry him?" Harry asked nervously and Ginny smiled, she knew he would never admit it but Harry really wanted his best friends to get back together.

"No, she's not."

"Thank Merlin! I don't think I could handle Ron if she had said yes, but is she ok?" Harry said, clearly considered for his, for lack of a better word, sister.

"Yeah, she'll be fine," Ginny smirked and Harry looked at her, confused, "She kind of, accidently, let slip that she was in love with someone else. Who could that be?"

The pair of them laughed before returning downstairs, where they had a much nicer meal with their friends than last night. Ginny had to stop herself from giggling every time she caught Ron and Hermione looking at each other when the other wasn't looking. Hermione seemed much more relaxed, like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders but Ron still looked nervous, Ginny felt bad that she couldn't tell him Hermione's decision but she thought that he should work some things out for himself, and she was still kind of pissed off for the early morning wakening. She caught Harry's eye a few times and knew that their friends would work it out and be ok; she hoped they get to have what she and Harry did, they really did deserve it.

_**Authors Note:**__** Thanks for the reviews I've gotten so far, they are really good. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter, I was going to have Tim as the traitor but I thought it was really obvious and I think the new one will be much better =)**_


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Hermione's POV

Hermione threw herself onto the couch as she entered Number 12 Grimmauld Place; it had been a long day so far. She sighed as she remembered what she had done just a few hours ago. Hermione felt like a terrible person, the guilt was unbearable but, at the same time, she felt as if a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she knew that she had made the right choice, it was just a pity that it took her so long to see what was right in front of her for years.

_Flashback_

_Hermione knocked on the door of Tim's apartment, reluctantly. She couldn't believe that she was actually doing this! Here she was ending a perfectly good relationship over one she was sure that was finished, what is she thinking? But it is the right thing to do, right? It certainly wasn't fair to lead Tim on and pretend that they had a future, if her heart wasn't in it, Tim deserved better than that. Her hand found the small black box in her pocket and she clung to it. After preparing herself, mentally, for what she was about to do the door opened and Hermione gulped nervously._

"_Hermione!" Tim exclaimed. His hair was a mess, sticking up all over the place, reminding her of Harry, and he had dark black bags under his eyes. Clearly he slept about as much as her in the last two days._

"_Hey Tim, how are you doing?" she asked shakily and cursed herself for asking such a stupid question._

_Tim snorted in response, "Not the best, to be honest," he led her into the spacious apartment, "When you said you needed time to think, I thought you meant a couple of hours, not days."_

_She winced. "I know, I'm sorry but it was a big decision and I really needed to think it through."_

"_I understand but I didn't expect your friends to come over when you were making that decision," he laughed humourlessly." Hermione froze on the couch, she was now distracted from what she need to do._

"_What friends?" she asked, determined to delay the moment when she would give Tim her answer and she couldn't go back._

"_You know, Potter and Weasley."_

"_What were they doing over here?" Hermione demanded, she had avoided tell her boys of Tim's proposal so that they wouldn't interfere, clearly they had anyway. She was going to kill Ginny._

"_I'm still not sure what they wanted, they just come over the day after, you know, and we had a few drinks, they started asking questions about you and stuff."_

"_Me?"_

"_Yeah, it was kinda weird actually; they started talking about your disappearance and the people behind it. I think they were giving me one of those "older brother" speeches, because Weasley started asking about our relationship and such, and then they were both warning me not to hurt you, you've always said that they are your family, they probably wanted to make sure that you were going to be ok, like brothers." _

_Tim was watching her very closely now and Hermione felt uncomfortable, she had always talked about Harry and the Weasley, all except Ron, to Tim and she often described them as her family. She loved her parents dearly but there was always going to be a barrier between them because she is a witch._

"_Yeah, well, Harry's always been my brother." She smiled weakly._

"_What about Ron?" Tim pressed._

"_He's family too, of course," Hermione mumbled. It was true that she thought of Ron as a part of her family, just not a brother._

_They were silent for a while and Hermione wondered why Ron and Harry had come to see Tim. Harry had never shown an interest in any of her other boyfriends, granted they weren't exactly around much, and she certainly didn't think Ron wanted to be friends with Tim, although, she had to admit, it did seem likely that they had come over to warn Tim to treat her well._

"_So?" Said Tim anxiously, dragging Hermione out of her thoughts, "Aren't you going to tell me what you've decided? It's killing me!"_

_Hermione tried to push her nerves away as she looked at Tim. How was she supposed to say this? It was for this reason that never had a serious boyfriend after Ron, until Tim. Hermione knew that she wasn't over Ron and she never wanted to give anyone false hope that it could work between them. Clearly she had given Tim that hope and it broke her heart to have to crush that hope. She pulled out the ring box from her pocket and she sat it on the table beside her, taking a deep, bracing breath she spoke,_

"_Tim, I'm so sorry-"_

"_Oh God! No, Hermione, please don't do this!" Tim pleaded and Hermione felt her resolve weaken a little before she pulled herself together._

"_I have to do this Tim, for both of us, this isn't right Tim, you must know that," she told him gently._

"_Please, Hermione, I'll do anything you want. I'll try harder, we can see each other more, please, we can get married and buy a house and, and-"_

"_I can't Tim, I'm sorry. It's not something that you've done, you're perfect, but I can't marry you."_

_Neither of them spoke and Tim collapsed onto a nearby chair. He put his head in his hand, as he shook all over his body. Hermione couldn't breathe, she truly hated herself. It had been a mistake to date Tim; if she hadn't then he wouldn't be heartbroken right now. She stood up and grabbed her bag, heading for the front door. Hermione had he hand on the handle when Tim spoke again._

"_Why?"_

"_What?" She asked in a small voice, she knew what he wanted to know but she couldn't bear to have to tell him that._

"_I want to know why you won't marry me Hermione." She was silent for a few moments, she didn't want to tell him why but how could she deny him anything now, after what she had just done._

"_I'm not in love with you Tim," she said, her voice wavering. Hermione felt a wrench in her gut as she saw his shoulders slump in defeat and she forced herself to say the next sentence, she knew it was cruel to tell him this but she had to make sure that he knew she was not going to change her mind. She uttered the words that she had been denying herself, until now._

"_I'm in love with someone else Tim." She whispered as tears streamed down her face. A few minutes passed before Tim talked again._

"_I knew that," he croaked sadly, as her eyes widened in shock, "I've always known that, really, everyone told me that you were in love with him but I didn't want to believe it. I thought that I could make you forget about him, I though…I thought I had made to forget about him. But I was wrong, and they were right. My parents, my siblings, my friends, even my work colleagues told me that you would never get over him. But we had been dating for so long and I though…I really thought that you were over him." More tears flew down he cheeks as Tim's words sunk in. He really had taken a chance and made an effort with her but she threw it all back in his face._

"_Tim-"_

_He ignored her and started talking again, "I saw the difference in you right away that first day that you started talking again. I knew that you were drifting further away from me but I tried to ignore the fact that you were smiling and laughing more just because you were around him. I knew that you loved him because whenever you made up again, I had never seen you so happy and filled with purpose. And then, whenever you were rescued, and in hospital, I saw how your face would light up when he walked in the room to visit you and then I saw how disappointed you were when he left and it was just me there." _

_Tim's voice was so anguished that it doubled her guilt was doubled but it was his words that really had an impact on Hermione. It was true. It was all true, and she had never realized it until now that it was pointed out to her._

"_It was why I proposed Hermione, I knew I was losing you and it was only a matter of time. So, I proposed in a desperate attempt to keep you because…the whole world could see who you really loved."_

"_Tim, I'm so sor-"_

"_Go, just go, please!" _

_End of Flashback_

The tears fell down Hermione's face now as they full effect of what she had done hit her, she had led Tim on for months and months because she couldn't see what everyone else could. For 4 years she pretended that she was ok and that she had moved on. She had gone out with a few people but it was never serious, until Tim. He was perfect, in every way; he loved her and made her feel content. Not happy, not even close to it, but content. She had worked very hard to make their relationship work, she had even kept it a secret for most of it because she wanted to be sure before she introduced him to her friends but she never really got a chance to be sure because of that article by Rita Skeeter. If she was honest with herself, she probably wouldn't have told her friends, she would have ended it before they knew but she had to pretend that she was happy with Tim because everyone was so delighted that she seemed to have moved on.

Hermione glanced at the clock and realized that it was already six o'clock in the evening, she had to be at the Burrow for seven for a party; it was George's birthday and everyone she knew would be there.

As Hermione raced up the stairs to get ready, the truth of the matter came to her. She had dated Tim to prove to everyone that she had moved on but she hadn't. It has taken her four years to come to this realization. She, Hermione Granger, was still in love with Ron Weasley.

Ron's POV

It was ridiculous how nervous he was, honestly if he wasn't so nervous he would have laughed at himself. It was now 7:30 and the party at the Burrow was in full swing. All of his siblings and their kids had arrived ages ago. There was also Lee, Neville, Hannah, Luna, Rolf, Seamus, Dean, Padma, Pavarti, Lavender (Ron groaned), Alicia, Katie and the rest of the Order. The only person that was still to arrive was Hermione. This is why he was so nervous, he had promised himself that he would fight for her until she made her decision but what if she already decided? He was sure the advice that Harry had given him would not work if she was engaged. It was pathetic, as Harry already pointed out several time, how scared he was today. He had arrived at his childhood home 3 hours early, already fully dressed because he had spent the two hours before that getting ready.

Ron stood up and decided that he needed to distract himself or he was going to go mad. He walked over to Harry and Ginny, who were watching James play with Fred II.

"Hey guys," Ron greeted as his best friend and sister looked up at him.

"Hey Ron, how are you today?" Ginny smirked.

"Fine, why?" he asked suspiciously, his sister was not usually one to enquire how he was doing, unless she was up to something.

"No reason, you just seem a little nervous." She laughed wickedly.

"Harry!" Ron groaned, "What part of "Don't tell Ginny" didn't you understand?"

"Sorry mate, she got it out of me. You know what Gin's like!"

Ginny glared at her husband briefly before turning back to Ron, "I think it's a great idea, Ron, you should never have been broken up this long anyway."

Ron ignored her and walked away to find someone who wouldn't annoy him. He walked into the kitchen, intending to talk to one of his brothers but was shocked when he did enter the room.

Hermione was there talking to his mother, neither of them had heard him come in so he leaned behind the door, away from view.

"Hello dear, how are you?" His mother asked fondly, Ron spared a moment to roll his eyes at his mother's obvious favouritism. Harry and Hermione were the only two people that his mother welcomed happily into their family when they were dating one of her children. All of his brother's girlfriends had to wait months, sometimes years, to be accepted by his mother and although they all were, eventually, it was only Harry and Hermione that she liked from the start. His mother had kept contact with Hermione since they broke up and never wasted any time reminding him that she was better for him than Lavender, who was never accepted or liked by any of his family really.

"Oh, I'm fine Molly." Hermione smiled, Ron's breath caught in his throat when he looked at her. Her hair was flowing down her back in elegant curls, her body was lightly tanned and wrapped in a figure hugging white dress and she had the smallest amount of make-up on her face. She looked stunning.

"That's good dear, now, where is this Tim that I have been hearing so much about? Ginny told me that he proposed and he was invited tonight, of course."

_Traitor_, Ron thought grumpily before turning his attention back to Hermione, who's smiled faltered a little.

"Well he did, yes, but the thing is…well you see…we have broken up." Ron had to restrain himself from jumping with joy. He quickly exited the kitchen, before he was caught eavesdropping, and went back to the party in a much better mood.

He enjoyed himself over the next few hours; he talked away to his friends and family and enjoyed his brothers' birthday. He smiled when George raised a toast to Fred; he was glad that they could now remember Fred on special occasions without someone breaking down and crying. It was still hard to think of his brother, who would have been 27 today, but it was getting easier with every year that passed.

At 11 o'clock he exited the bathroom and bumped into someone. He looked up intending to apologize and was shocked to see that he had run into Hermione.

"Hey," he smiled at her.

"Hello, how are you?" she asked him warmly and returned his smile.

"I'm good, well, actually, I wanted to talk to you, is that ok?" He said nervously and he nearly wished he could take back the words but it was now or never, right?

"Sure, what did you want to talk about?"

"Not here, come on," he pulled the up the stair until they reached his attic room. He opened the door and led her inside. Hermione walked over and sat down on his bed. Ron took a deep breath and sat across from her.

"Ok, well, the truth is I wanted to ask you something. Now, you can say "no" of you want to, ok?"

"Of course, what is it?" Hermione asked him, he smiled as he saw the curious look in her eyes.

"Ok, right…I'm so nervous, sorry. When you went missing, I was a mess. I wouldn't talk to anyone at all, not even my family, I finally broke up with Lavender because I was so worried about you; we all were but especially me. I couldn't stand the thought of you being in danger and I felt like I let you down-"

"Ron, you didn't let me down-"

"Thanks, but just let me say this, ok?" she nodded and he took a deep breath before continuing, "I couldn't stop think about you the whole time, it was awful losing you just after we started speaking again. The night that we found you, I was in my apartment drowning my sorrows in a bottle of firewhiskey when Harry found me. We were talking about you, and how much we missed you, and I told him something that should have told you a long time ago," he looked into Hermione's eyes and forced himself to admit his feelings, "I told him that I still loved you, I always have. The only reason that I got with lavender was to make you jealous and I know how stupid that was now. Anyway, I also told Harry that if we found you, I would tell you this and I would make an effort. So, I wanted to ask you if you would like to come on a date with me."

He finished talking and looked up, his heart was pounding in his chest as he waited for her answer, and he felt like a lovesick teenager all over again. She was watching him intently now. He stared into her warm brown eyes as she leaned forward. Her lips met his. He felt incredible as he wrapped his arms around her back and held her tightly. She pulled him closer to her and they kissed passionately, before she pulled away, all too soon.

"I would love to go on a date with you Ron."

He grinned as he lent in and kissed her again.

Neither of them noticed the person lurking outside the room which had heard and seen the entire exchange, from Ron's confession, to the date, to the kiss. The person carefully snuck away to avoid being seen by Ron or Hermione.

**Author's Note****: Thanks for reading, and especially everyone who reviewed. So who do you think seen them? Review and tell me what you thought of the whole chapter please xx**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Benjamin Lestrange's POV

His source stood shaking in front of him; the person was pale and sweating. Clearly they were having doubts about what he asked of them, but that didn't matter. He would find out eventually.

"Have you got the information?" he asked the pathetic excuse for a person, snivelling under his gaze, it was hard to believe that this idiot was part of the Order, the supposed bravest people in the Wizard World.

The person looked up at him, regret washed over their face as the person clearly thought they were making a mistake and were trying to think of a way out of this. Benjamin snickered to himself, even if the spy changed their mind and tried to remain loyal to the order all he had to do use legilimency and he would have what he wanted anyway.

The terrified person in front of him drew a crumpled piece of paper from their pocket and handed it over, very reluctantly. His eyes scanned briefly over the paper, a savage smile spreading across his face.

"We have it!" He proclaimed, as he turned back to hiss source, "I would kill you, but I think what the Order will do to you will be much, much worse."

He smiled evilly, as the person in front of him broke down and sobs echoed through the hall. Nothing would please him more than to kill the sad excuse for a human being in front of him but he thought it better for Potter, Weasley and Granger to know exactly who betrayed them, and once they discovered how deep the person betrayal ran Benjamin was sure that the Order would be destroyed.

"We must start planning immediately, kill as many of them as possible but not the targets, it is better for them to watch their family die before we kill them." Benjamin commanded, a twisted smile appearing on his face.

"CRUCIO!" he roared at the person on the floor, their screams echoed throughout the room and a sense of joy filled him, he felt connected with both his parents when he said that spell. "You may leave."

oo00OO00oo

Molly's POV

She hummed to herself as she entered he kitchen. George and Angelina, along with little Freddy and Roxanne, were visiting today as well as Percy and his family. Molly didn't get to see as much as she would like anymore so she loved when they brought her beautiful grandchildren to visit her and Arthur.

She entered the kitchen and set about making some tea and sandwiches for her family. As she finished a couple of corned beef ones, Fred II entered the kitchen and ran over to his grandmother.

"Hello Freddy," she cooed at her grandson, at 2 years old he looked exactly like his uncle and father, it warmed her heart when she looked at him because he reminded her so much of when her twins were younger. Molly thought about her dead son every day and her heart still ached for him but when she looked at Fred II she always felt better. Like a part of her son lived on in him, even though he was George's child.

"Grawndma!" Fred exclaimed trying to wriggle out of the hug she bestowed upon him. Molly smiled as she tickled Fred but his giggle was drowned out by a loud scream and the cry of little Molly. Molly knew this wasn't a normal scream or cry that she would hear when a prank was played or something innocent like that, her instincts from the war kicked in and she rushed to the large cupboard in the corner.

She opened the door and put Fred inside, "We are going to play hide and seek, my dear, you must stay here and be completely quiet, I will be right back," she whispered.

Molly rushed over to the kitchen door and hid behind it as she peered into the living room, the scene before her forced an involuntarily gasp out of her throat. Five hooded figures were in her living room, Doom Soldiers. Arthur, George, Percy and Angelina were duelling the figures while Audrey was cowering behind the sofa with the little ones. Fear rooted her to the spot and she couldn't bear to watch, but she could never turn away. A figure approached Audrey and the children and Molly's anger took control of her, how dare he try and hurt innocent children?

She aimed her wand at him, she hadn't felt so furious since she was duelling Bellatrix Lestrange.

"STUPEFY!" she roared, as the Doom Soldier fell to the ground. She looked over at the other fights now and was grateful when she realized that no one had noticed her entry, she didn't want her boys getting distracted and now she could help them. She quickly shot a spell at the person fighting George and was grateful when she collapsed too.

One of the other attackers looked up and aimed his wand at Molly but her daughter-in-law was too quick, Angelina stunned him before he could even utter a word. Molly and Angelina ran to Audrey and the kids as the battle ended, with George, Arthur and Percy winning their duels.

"Where's Fred?" Angelina screamed in an agonized voice, clearly fearing the worst, as sobs cascaded down Angelina's cheeks she grabbed Roxanne and held her close, Molly could see George freeze in his attempt to reach his wife and Molly tried to speak but the shock of what just happened stopped her.

"Where's Fred?" Angelina whispered gently and Molly snapped out of her shock, she needed to tell the poor girl that her son was safe.

"It's ok, dear. He was with me and I locked him in the cupboard, in the kitchen, when I heard the screaming." Angelina let out a sigh of relief and joy as she rushed into the kitchen with Roxanne in her arms and George on her heels. Molly felt tears fall down her face as she wished that she could have been reunited with her Fred after the last battle she fought in.

"Is everyone ok?" Arthur asked, his family nodded but looked shaken up. Molly knew how they felt, the Burrow was the entire family's safe haven, it was somewhere that they could always escape to and now it was in tatters.

"We'll have to go now," Percy said calmly, addressing them all, "They were Doom Soldiers, I recognise them. We will have to go to Grimmauld Place; we can call a meeting and tell Ron, Harry and Hermione about the attack."

George and Angelina came back into the living room and agreed with Percy's plan, "If they got in here they could be at our houses as well, there might even be more coming here so we have to leave quickly. It's not safe."

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

"So, you're not going to tell me anything?" Harry demanded of him and Ron smirked.

"Nope."

"Come on Ron! It was my idea in the first place! I just want to know if I'm going to have to stop you from being attacked by a flock of birds again." Harry complained childishly, Ron glared at him briefly for the reminder of those blasted birds but then went back to the paperwork on his desk.

"I just want to know if you asked her out."

"Harry, my dear friend," Ron began in a mocking voice, "Just consider this revenge for you not telling me about the fact that she was going to turn down the proposal."

Ron laughed as Harry looked ashamed of himself, "Well Ginny told me not to tell anyone."

"Well, that didn't stop Ginny from telling everyone about it to begin with." Ron muttered.

"Considering she was the one that told you, you really have nothing to complain about." Harry reminded him and both boys laughed.

"So, come on, tell me! Did you two go out yet?"

"Not exactly," Ron smirked. It had roughly two weeks since Ron had told Hermione about his feeling for her, despite the fact that they hadn't went out on an official date, they were now together again but they hadn't told anyone.

"Ron, I have a right to know what's going on!"

"You are like an old lady gossiping Harry."

"Well, you are my two best friends and I want you to get back together." Ron was shocked that Harry admitted this but before he could say anything there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Ron called, thankful that this conversation was going to end. Hermione walked into the room and sat in the couch in between the desks.

"What were you two doing?" she asked suspiciously after a few moments of silence. She must have noticed that both boys were blushing because she had interrupted them talking about her, Ron prayed that she hadn't been eavesdropping but she probably would have said something else by now if she had.

"Oh, nothing," Harry said, waving his hand dismissively, "Were you looking for something, or did you just pop in for a _chat_." Harry finished the sentence by waggling his eyebrows and shooting Ron a mocking look, none of which Hermione noticed.

"Actually, Kingsley told me to come down here and tell you two that there is an emergency Order meeting in twenty minutes and I don't know what happened before either of you two asks."

Ron looked up at her now, she looked incredibly nervous and he had to admit that this sounded bad. The investigation was supposed to be dormant, as far as everyone else knew anyway, so what were they going to do if something had happened, they couldn't ignore it and then the rest of the Order would want in. That meant that the traitor, whoever the hell they were, would have information for Lestrange.

"Maybe we should go now then. If we are there early we might be able to find out what has happened." He suggested and the other two agreed eagerly.

The trio left the office and headed towards the elevators but before they got there an alarm screeched throughout the Auror Department.

"What's that?" Hermione asked nervously.

"It's an intruder alarm; it means there's an attack somewhere in the ministry." Ron answered her as a junior auror ran up to Harry and said something that Ron couldn't make out.

"Shit!-"

"Don't curse Harry!"

"Lestrange is here, in the ministry. There is around 80 Doom Soldiers with him and they are attacking randomly at the main entrance."

"He's here?" Hermione whispered in a small voice. Ron and Harry looked at her and realized, for the first time, that she was scared.

"Hermione, you should go back you Grimmauld Place-" Ron began.

"I'm staying with you two!" she shouted fiercely and Ron sighed, he really thought that she would leave for once.

"Ok," Harry said, he called over all of the aurors and briefed them. "I've summoned everyone else but this is all we have for now, capture as many as possible but our main target has curly black hair with black eyes, he is the leader and will probably be easy to spot."

"We are going to split into the two teams that we always use, one team with me and one team with Ron, so that we can come at them from different sides. Get into the teams now."

Ron looked over at his team and noticed that there was quite a few missing from their numbers, there was only about 20 people in his team when there was usually around 50. He looked over at Harry and Hermione and nodded that he was ready.

"Hermione, you come in our team." Ron said quickly, he didn't want to get separated again. She nodded and walked over to stand beside him.

"Ok, my team are going down the stairs and Ron, you take the elevators. You will get there before us but not by much. Everyone get downstairs now!" Harry commanded.

oo00OO00oo

Ron jumped out of way of a bright red light; he quickly took shelter behind a statue and aimed at the first Doom Soldier he could see.

"STUPEFY!" Ron shouted and smiled in satisfaction as the figure dropped to the ground with a thud. Ron ran out from the statue and desperately searched for Hermione, she had been right beside him a moment ago, before that bloody Doom Soldier attacked him. He couldn't see her anywhere now; he prayed that she was ok. As he ran towards another hooded figure he collided with someone, in aurors robes, and they fell over. Cursing, he turned back to the person and helped them up. Ron noticed a huge amount of messy black hair and smiled at Harry.

"Hey, mate, how are you doing?" he asked Harry quickly, as the moved away from a collapsing wall beside them.

"I'm doing ok, haven't seen Lestrange though, you?"

"Yeah, same, are you sure he's here?" Ron asked, he saw someone running towards Harry's back and roared, "IMMOBULS!"

The man became still and Harry threw Ron a grateful smile. The two friends ran through the crowd, looking for any sign of Lestrange, as they reached the middle of the room Harry pulled Ron back.

"What?" Ron demanded but calmed down instantly when he noticed the look on Harry's face, he looked upset, "What's wrong mate?"

"Look over there Ron," Harry said point to a spot to the side of them, Ron followed his gaze and gasped, there was a pile of bodies.

"Oh no, are they dead?" Ron knew the answer, deep down, but felt even worse when Harry nodded solemnly. The two were still for a moment before continuing the battle with renewed purpose, no one else would die because of Lestrange.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Ron narrowly dodged the curse thrown at him; he jumped behind one of the fireplaces, aimed his wand and shouted,

"STUPEFY!"

Ron rushed over to Harry, after tying up the Doom Soldier and telling one of the junior aurors to place him with the other prisoner. He found Harry quickly and both boys raised their wands as footsteps came up behind them.

Ron whirled around and let of a roar of relief as he saw Hermione running towards them. Both boys rushed over and embraced her quickly; Ron had been worried when they got separated because she hadn't fully recovered yet.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked her, staring at her forehead. Ron noticed, for the first time, that there was a deep cut running down from her forehead to her cheek.

"Honestly! It's a small scrape, I'm fine," she said rolling her eyes. Before either man could respond someone spoke behind them,

"Isn't this adorable? The Golden Trio reunited at last!" The cold, mocking voice of Benjamin Lestrange taunted them. The trio turned around and held their wand in front of themselves, firmly.

"Lestrange!" Harry growled, "What the hell is your problem?"

"Isn't that obvious, Potter, I want revenge for my family. I want you three to pay for destroying my parents, for killing them and for ruining my life!"

If the situation hadn't been so serious Ron would have laughed, Lestrange sounded childish and pathetic right now but he had proved time and time again that he was a threat to be taken seriously. There was just one thing that Ron couldn't understand, though,

"We didn't kill your parents, we never even knew Lestrange Senior for merlin's sake!" Ron said, exasperated, Lestrange planned on starting another war because of something they didn't do?

Lestrange ignored him and Ron felt his blood boil. Hermione took his hand beside him; she could feel her entire body shaking with fear. Ron remembered his promise that he made to himself when he found out that she was kidnapped and vowed to see it through, he would destroy Lestrange, no matter what.

Ron looked over at Harry and nodded, it was now or never.

"STUPEFY!"

"DIFFINDO!" Lestrange and the four cronies beside him blocked the curses but the trio managed to run further back from him, they were now a good 10 metres apart.

"Now, now I don't want to harm any of you, yet. I want you three to suffer the way that you made me suffer!" Lestrange called, "Now, I have come here to warn you that what happened here today, amongst other places, is only a glimpse of what is to come."

He cackled at himself for a moment before the sounds of disapparating echoed throughout the hall, the remaining Doom Soldiers were leaving but the trio could do nothing to stop them now. Only Lestrange and his four bodyguards remained. Ron, Harry and Hermione attempted to run towards him but he placed an invisible barrier between them.

"I will leave you now. I am glad to have finally met you Mr Potter and Mr Weasley," Lestrange began, he looked at Hermione for a moment and although Ron could feel her shiver, she stared back at him defiantly, "Of course I have already met Miss Granger."

He paused here and Ron had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"In case you have forgotten me, though, maybe you could use a reminder, mudblood?" He gave an evil, twisted smile and aimed his wand at Hermione.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Ron knew what he was going to do and before Hermione could be harmed, Ron launched himself in front of her. He didn't hear Lestrange utter the curse but he felt the moment the spell hit him. Ron collapsed onto the floor, withering in agony as he felt like thousands of knives were being pushed into his skin, constantly. He could hear Hermione screaming his name and could feel someone grasping both his hands.

The pain stopped abruptly and he realized that Lestrange must have gotten away again. He opened his eyes and found Harry and Hermione staring at him, Hermione was the one grasping his hand and Harry had his hand placed on his shoulder.

"Damn, we didn't get him!" Ron growled as he sat up again.

"That doesn't matter! How do you feel Ron?" Harry asked him, concernedly.

"I'm fine, really."

Hermione threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly and despite the soreness it caused in his body it felt good.

"You're a prat!" Hermione scolded, "Don't ever jump in front of a curse meant for me again!"

Ron and Harry laughed at her before they became sombre again. "How many died?" Ron asked them gravely.

"Eight ministry workers died."

The trio fell silent, as a mark of respect and Hermione leaned against Ron's shoulder. Ron was in shock; that was the highest number of deaths in a battle since the war!

"We better get to headquarters," Harry said, "Something happened earlier today, and they will definitely need to hear about this. We need their help so we are going to have to find the traitor, today."

**Authors Note: ****Thanks for all the reviews of the last chapter. I know that it may seem that Ron and Hermione are back together too fast but, as one of my reviewers said, why wait? I think that they wouldn't want to wait, especially since she nearly died a few chapters back. Also someone mentioned that they would read over my story for me, to check for mistakes, and I would really like if they did that but their review was unsigned so can that person message me if they still want to do that, thanks. Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter ;)**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter19

Harry's POV

The trio stumbled out of the Grimmauld Place fireplace. Harry looked up and was startled to discover that the entire Order of the Phoenix was staring at him and his two friends. The silence lasted a few minutes, as Harry took in the sight of the blooded and bruised Order, before the room erupted,

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"…TWO HOURS LATE!"

"…ANY IDEA WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"

"I'VE BEEN SO WORRIED!"

Molly Weasley rushed forward and gave each of the trio a bone-crushing hug. Harry knew immediately, judging by this reaction, that something serious had happened elsewhere because the Order could not have known about the ministry battle.

"What happened to you, Ron?" Molly demanded. Ron was looking incredible pale and unsteady -the aftermaths of the curse were taking effect.

"I'm fine mum; I just need to sit down for a while."

Everyone watched, worriedly, as Ron made his way to a seat at the top of the long table, Hermione never releasing her steady hold on him. Harry was left to deal with a panicked Molly.

"Don't worry," he said, trying to be comforting and understanding but he really wanted to start the meeting, "He was hit with a curse but we'll explain later."

Molly looked like she was about to argue but before she could a whirl of blazing red rushed towards them and threw herself in Harry's arms. Harry could hear Ginny's terrified sobs against his chest and he knew immediately that the ministry wasn't the only place attacked today.

"What's happened, Gin?" Harry whispered to her softly; he was already dreading the answer to his question.

"They came to our house, Harry!" Ginny answered frantically, in a small, frightened voice. Harry was furious -he could feel the anger radiating off him as his blood boiled and the colour drained from his face.

"WHAT?" he roared. They were at his house? At his home, with his wife, son and unborn child? This was just too much, - how dare Lestrange go this far? Ginny nodded against his chest, as her tears soaked his shirt.

"Is James ok? Are you?" Harry demanded, shaking violently from head to toe at the prospect of his son being harmed, and at the same time searching for any signs of harm on Ginny's body.

"We are fine Harry, I promise."

"Well what happened?"

"I was about to go out, to Diagon Alley. I had James in my arms and my wand in my hand, ready to apparate. Ten of them, definitely Doom Soldiers, appeared in our house. I have no idea how. I apparated away the moment I saw them. I came here, like we planned."

Harry nodded, feeling glad that Ginny had followed their emergency plan. Grimmauld Place still had the best protection of anywhere else; the only way that someone could ever get in here was if Harry, Ron or Hermione told someone of the address. It had been decided, after the war, that the Fidelius Charm would be placed on the house again, much stronger than any at their homes. The trio were the secret keepers because they became the unofficial leaders of the Order once Kingsley was made Minister.

The attack on his home was too much to take in. He had never hated anyone as much as he hated Lestrange right now, not even Voldemort. In a few short months Lestrange had caused Harry, himself, more misery than Voldemort because all the plans were centred directly around him and his friends unlike Voldemort whose aim was to take over the world. The pain Lestrange had caused him was unbearable, both of his best friends (his first family) had been tortured, one on the brink of death. And now, his home had been invaded and his wife and son were both put in danger. That was the last straw -it was unforgivable! But the worst part of the entire situation was that these events, while so close to his heart, weren't the worst that Lestrange was responsible for; 8 ministry workers were killed today and it was all Lestrange's doing. Not to mention the fact that, by the looks of this room, his home was not the only one attacked today.

Harry walked to the top of the long table, after giving Ginny a quick kiss, focused on what he had to do, before he took his seat beside Hermione. Ron was on her other side and Harry smiled at the way they were whispering gently to each other; at least one good thing was coming out of this mess. Although Harry doubted that Ron was going to admit his true feelings anytime soon (he had only been winding Ron up in the office) it was good that they were best friends again. Harry decided to start the meeting when he noticed Lavender glaring at the pair of them; it really wouldn't be good for there to be an argument today.

"Ok, we are going to start now."

"I think everyone should tell the three of us what happened earlier, the cause for the emergency meeting and then we can tell you about what happened at the ministry," Hermione said, in her business-like voice. "Kingsley has a lot of stuff to deal with right now, so he won't be attending."

The Order looked quite shocked at the mention of yet another incident at the ministry but quickly composed themselves so that the meeting could start.

"Any comments or theories should be mentioned after everything is explained, only then, so no comments." Ron said, looking at George and Lee in particular.

"Ok, let's begin."

oo00OO00oo

And so it began, as each story went on Harry felt himself boil with rage. Five Doom Soldiers had attacked The Burrow; Molly was quite shaken up about the whole incident but the worst thing was that some of her grandchildren had been in the house. Harry couldn't believe it when he was told that they had aimed their wands at the children, it was disgusting. Harry found this attack particularly hard to hear about because of how close he was to the Weasleys, he considered The Burrow his childhood home and it was awful to hear about it being invaded.

Fleur alone with her daughters, Victorie and Dominique, was at Shell Cottage when 3 Doom Soldiers had come to her home and passed through the enchantments that were so secure and effective during the war. Luckily, Fleur had been on a floo call to Bill at the time and she was able to fight them off a little before Bill arrived and brought his family to Grimmauld Place.

Lavender said that her parent's home, where she had been staying since her break-up, had been broken into and she was attacked. She did look pretty shaken but Harry was irritated with her lack of details, she couldn't even recall the number of attackers that were there. He was about to press her on the matter when he received a warning glare from Ginny, maybe now wasn't the best time.

The Longbottoms had been at home along with Aberforth, who was visiting them at the time since he was so close to Neville (they had a relationship similar to what Remus and Harry's was) and the family had been in the living room playing with Neville and Hannah's one year old son Frank when 6 Doom Soldiers apparated into their home. Neville and Hannah had fought of the Doom Soldiers while Aberforth had taken little Frank to the safety of Grimmauld Place.

It was heart-breaking for Harry to hear that Andromeda and Teddy had their small, cosy home invaded with 8 Doom Soldiers. Andromeda had fought a few of them off when they forced their way into her kitchen, she then ran upstairs and retrieved her grandson from his room before she, too, brought them to Headquarters.

Seamus, Lee, Luna, Dean, Parvati and many of the other Order members that were in the DA had been at work when they received the message about the meeting, so they hadn't been home. Harry assumed that they too would have been attacked since they were well known members of the Order of the Phoenix and, to a lesser extent, war heroes. However some of the older members, such as Emmeline, Hestia or Dedalus, were not attacked, this was probably because they weren't as well known for their part in the fight against Voldemort and that was what Lestrange wanted revenge for.

It was worrying that all of these attacks happened at exactly 2pm because it showed that Lestrange had numbers: around 30 Doom Soldiers involved in the Order attacks and then the 80 that Lestrange had with him at the ministry. One thing was certain; the Order would need to do some recruiting soon. But the worst thing about these attacks was that the only way that Lestrange could have gotten the addresses of the Order and get through the enchantments was if someone had told him where they were and how to get inside. Something that only a trusted Order member could know. This hurt Harry deeply, after the war the Order became stronger than ever, they formed a family. Everyone had lost so much in the war that they needed each other, and they needed to know who they could trust inexplicably. The betrayal was awful - the traitor had done more than tell a few secrets of an organization; they had betrayed family. Harry had no doubt that the Order supported this person through a difficult time because there was not a single person in the Order that didn't suffer greatly after the final battle, at some time or another everyone leaned on the Order for comfort. This made the betrayal so much more deep and hurtful. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione and he knew that they too were thinking of the gravity of this situation.

"Well?" Seamus said, interrupting the uncomfortable silence, "What the hell happened at the ministry?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced briefly at each other, no one knew where to begin, and so Ron sighed and took control of the situation,

"Harry and I were in the office, working, at around 10 past 2 when Hermione came in. She told us about the emergency meeting," Ron said, he was sounding tired and drained and he looked very pale too. "We all left the office and we were planning on coming straight here. When we got out into the corridor, the intruder alarm was going off. So Harry gathered all the aurors and we decided to split into 2 teams. Harry's team went down the stairs to attack and our team (he gestured to himself and Hermione) took the elevators-"

"Who decided the teams?" George asked, smirking. Harry smiled to himself too as he remembered Ron demanding that Hermione be on his team.

"…when we got down there, there was about 80 Doom Soldiers and a battle broke out." Ron ignored George but his ears were slightly red.

"The battle took place in the atrium and lasted at least an hour," Hermione said, taking over from Ron. "It was brutal; the Doom Soldiers didn't care about killing anyone at all. 8 ministry workers were killed."

The room lapsed into a respectful silence, commemorating those who gave up their lives today and Harry promised himself that, after this was all done, he would go and see their families.

"The three of us fought most of it separately but we found each other about 50 minutes into the battle," Harry began. "We were trying to come up with a plan, or strategy, when Lestrange came up from behind us. He said that he wasn't planning on killing us yet, he said that he was going to make us pay for destroying his parents-"

"What?" Ginny asked, outraged, "It wasn't you three that got Bellatrix - that honour went to mum (most of the room smirked here) and you didn't even meet Rodolphus Lestrange! How could you have destroyed them?"

"We don't know what he was talking about, Gin, but let's face it, he's crazy." Ron muttered and everyone laughed for a minute.

"He said that today was only the start of our problem, he must've been talking about the attacks, and we had a brief duel, nothing really happened because we couldn't get a clear shot at him." Harry finished his tale, planning to leave out the part where Ron was tortured until Ron decided if he wanted anyone to know. However, Harry should have known that Molly would never forget about one of her children being hurt.

"What happened to you then, Ron, if it was only a small duel?"

Harry noticed that Hermione had let a few tears escape down her cheeks at the mention of what Ron had done for her, Harry knew that she was feeling guilty for Ron taking the curse but Harry was glad that he had, not because he wanted either of them to be tortured (of course not!) but Harry knew that if Hermione was hit with another Crucio then the chances of her surviving were slim. Ron put his arm around Hermione and was whispering comforting words in her ear, so Harry knew that it was up to him to tell everyone what happened.

"Lestrange sent a Crucio at Hermione-"

"NO!"

"HOW DARE HE?"

"THE BLOODY ARSE!"

The Weasleys' roars of indignation were the loudest and Harry smiled at the fact that they had truly taken in Hermione as one of their own, just like they had with Harry himself.

"-but Ron took the curse, he jumped in front of it."

Silence greeted this statement; no one knew what to say. Everyone knew how brave Ron was, and how loyal he was to his friends, but the lengths he went to for Hermione shocked everyone. Harry noticed that Molly had tears streaming down her face and seemed unable to talk as she leaned on Arthur's shoulder; she was very protective of Ron since the war and worried about him a lot because of his job, but Harry knew that Ron never told his mother about any of the injuries or pain he got from being an auror, so this was the first time in years that she heard of him in so much pain and it clearly broke her heart.

Ginny got off her seat and rushed up to Ron, she embraced him tightly and fiercely, and Harry knew that she was incredibly proud of her favourite brother; soon the rest of the Weasleys followed her example and were hugging Ron too.

After 5 minutes everyone was back in their seats again and Harry heard the question that he was dreading answering,

"So, how the hell did any of this happen? You three said there was no threat, nothing to be worried about, eh?" George said angrily, Angelina gripping his arm to calm him down.

Harry took a deep breath; this wasn't going to be pretty.

"Well, when I was captured," Hermione began, she was forcing her voice not to quiver at the mention of her ordeal, "I heard the Doom Soldiers, who were guarding me, talking about the plan that you lot made to trick Lestrange."

"How did they know that?" Hestia demanded, angrily.

"They said that they had a source in the Order, that someone told Lestrange about the plan that you made."

No one said anything, what could they say to the prospect that their family had betrayed them? Most people looked disbelieving, some looked furious but most looked confused.

"Well, this might not necessarily mean what you think; maybe they just overheard us somehow." Lavender said shakily, speaking for the first time.

"No, how could they have overheard us?" Ron asked her calmly, "It was only ever talked about here, for that reason."

Everyone nodded; of course they didn't talk about missions where anyone could hear them.

"Well then, what about _her_ boyfriend? She probably told him everything!" Lavender said, pointing an accusatory finger at Hermione. Harry noted that she was very eager to point the blame at someone and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Don't be ridiculous, I didn't tell him anything!" Hermione snapped, "He didn't know anything about these meetings!"

Hermione looked round at Ron and Harry, probably to assure them that she would never tell Tim anything to do with the Order, but she caught them sharing a guilty look with each other and Ginny.

"Um, actually Hermione, I told Tim quit a lot of information about the Order while you were missing because he seemed worried." Ginny said quietly. If Harry didn't feel so guilty, he would have laughed at the shocked look on Hermione's face.

"HA! See? That proves it, it must've been him!" Lavender concluded, glaring at Hermione for her ex-boyfriend's supposed betrayal.

"Shut up, Lavender!" Ron shouted, clearly frustrated, "We know it wasn't Tim because we investigated him, right Harry?"

Harry nodded vigorously, eager to get off this topic.

"What? When did you two do this?" Hermione demanded, furious. Harry squirmed under the glare she was giving him and Ron.

"Well…we just wanted to be sure so…we went to see him," Ron said quickly and very, very quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione asked shrilly, _oh god_ Harry thought _she is furious!_

"Because, it was just after he proposed and we wanted to be sure it was him, which it wasn't, in case you were going to marry him." Harry finished, "Can we talk about this later?"

Hermione nodded, while everyone else looked shocked at Harry's revelation.

"Tim proposed to you?" Neville asked, as Hermione nodded meekly.

"Are you engaged?" George asked, with an expression that Harry couldn't read, he was looking at Ron.

"No, George, not that it is any of your business but I am not engaged!" Hermione shouted at him and the room was silent, a very uncomfortable atmosphere taking over. Everyone was shocked that Hermione was proposed to a few weeks ago but most looked happy. Harry smirked when he realized that this was because Order members had placed a bet on when Ron and Hermione would get back together.

"So, someone in this room betrayed us?" Luna asked dreamily, as if discussing the weather, not something that could break the Order of the Phoenix.

"Yes, Luna, someone did." Hermione said, still looking quite embarrassed.

"How do you know? How are you sure?" Arthur asked and Harry knew that he didn't want to believe this of anyone in the room.

"Sorry, Dad, but it's the only explanation, all of our addresses were given out and that could only have happened if someone gave them to Lestrange." Ron said grimly, as the room nodded as one, accepting the truth.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Charlie asked.

"Well, obviously no one can go home tonight so we are going to have to stay here. I don't think that any of us can go to work anymore either; we really don't want anyone else getting kidnapped. Beds can be set up in the living rooms and meeting room. Anyone that has a room here can say there, one family per room." Harry informed them and everyone nodded. This was serious now and they would start working on a plan as soon as possible.

Harry looked at Ron and nodded for him to tell the room about the drastic plan they had come up with if something this big happened.

"First thing tomorrow morning," he began, "we are going to be giving every single one of you Veritaserum, and we are going to find out who the traitor is."

**Author's Note:** Thanks so much for all the reviews I have gotten; they were really nice and helpful. I didn't really like this chapter because nothing really happens but I promise that the traitor will be revealed in the next chapter :) Also thanks so muck to **OliWest** who has fixed my grammar mistakes in this chapter


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Ron's POV

Merlin, this was boring! When Ron found out that he, Harry and Hermione were practically the leaders of the Order of the Phoenix, he thought that it would be a bit more exciting and interesting but, honestly, he had never been as bored as right now. For the last 5 hours Ron, Harry and Hermione had been administrating Veritaserum to the Order member. It was so tiring and dull. It was very repetitive, the members came into the room in alphabetical order (of first names) and the trio would ask a couple of questions.

"Have you ever had contact with Benjamin Lestrange?"

"Have you ever given Benjamin Lestrange, or any Doom Soldier, information on the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Were you the person who gave Benjamin Lestrange and the Doom Soldiers the addresses of members of the Order of the Phoenix?"

Then after these few simple questions the person would leave and another would enter. The trio had just finished interviewing Fleur and, big surprise, she wasn't the traitor. Ron knew that it would be just their luck that the traitor's name would be right at the end of the alphabet; things were never easy for them after all.

"Ok, it wasn't Fleur, who's next?" Harry asked; Ron knew he was sick of this process as well.

Hermione rubbed her eyes, tiredly, before answering, "George."

Harry nodded and left the room to find George, the minute he left Ron walked over to Hermione and snaked his arms around her waist, drawing her closer to him as he kissed he neck gently.

"I'm bored!" he moaned in her ear. She laughed softly but ignored his remark, Hermione closed her eyes and Ron knew she was incredibly tired.

"What's wrong? You didn't get much sleep last night, huh?" he asked her cheekily, Hermione rolled her eyes and slapped his arm.

"Yeah, whose fault's that?"

Ron grinned at her but she pushed him away as voices approached the room, Ron quickly walked to the other side of the room as Harry came back in, with George. Harry raised his eyebrows when he noticed that both his friends were blushing, Ron shook his head at him and handed George a cup with the Veritaserum already inside.

"So, George, you know that you have been given Veritaserum and you are going to be asked a few questions regarding the Order of the Phoenix and the Benjamin Lestrange case?" Harry asked him; apparently they had to legally state this fact so that the person knew they were going to be interviewed.

"Yes, I know that, dear brother-in-law of mine." George smirked.

"And you are George Weasley, married to Angelina Weasley and father to Fred and Roxanne?" Hermione asked professionally.

"The one and only."

"Well then, George, have you given Benjamin Lestrange any information of the Order of the Phoenix-such as the home addresses of its members or information regarding any plans of the Order?"

"No, I have not little brother."

"Good, have you ever met or talked to Benjamin Lestrange, or any Doom Soldier, apart from the initial battle at the ministry where you fought against them?"

"Of course I have not, Hermy."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Hermione screeched in her angriest voice, Ron laughed at the fact that, for once, that voice was not directed at him.

"Jesus, keep your hair on, personally I've always thought that you needed a nickname. "Hermione" is quite a mouthful."

Hermione looked like smoke would come out of her ears soon; Harry quickly intervened trying to avoid a murder most likely.

"Thank George, that's it-"

"WAIT!" Ron shouted, inspiration coming to him. He had been so bored all day that he had not considered the advantages of Veritaserum at all, he had complained about the lack of interesting questions and it suddenly occurred to him that they had been letting excellent opportunities escape.

Harry and Hermione looked at him as if he had gone mad.

"What?"

"Think about it, you two, if George, who has tortured us for years with pranks, had us under Veritaserum do you think he would think twice about humiliating us?" Ron asked them, a cocky smile spreading across his face.

"NO WAY, RON! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

Ron ignored his brother.

"Hmm, I know what you mean…this really is an excellent opportunity for revenge. I haven't forgotten the time when you moved my bed outside while I was asleep in my underwear." Harry said thoughtfully, he turned to George and laughed gloatingly, "Or the time when you dyed my hair the same shade of Ron's and made me go to work, or there was also the time when you wrote the embarrassing article about how I sleep with a teddy bear and am a "sensitive person" and gave it to the Daily Prophet."

George gulped but Harry wasn't finished, "But, of course, you said that those things had nothing to do with you, didn't you?"

Ron saw where this was going and began to snigger loudly.

"So, George, who was it that pulled those pranks?"

"Fine, it was me. Are you happy now? Can I leave?" George demanded.

"Now, now Georgie we have a few more questions for you." Ron said smugly. George looked horrified at what he could be forced to admit. He turned to Hermione and Ron knew that he was going to appeal to her.

"Come on Hermione you can't let them do this. It is not what the potion is supposed to be used for, they are breaking rules. You can't allow that!"

"Well, you see George, I would normally agree with you but I really can't allow anyone to get away with calling me "Hermy", can I?" She smiled sweetly at the end and Ron wiped away a fake tear.

"We have corrupted her, Harry. I'm so proud."

George groaned and the trio laughed.

"So, George," Ron began, mockingly, "Please tell us your most shocking and/or embarrassing secret that you told no one, except those involved obviously?"

George eyes widened in shock, he tried to clamp a hand over his mouth but the words seemed to force themselves out and he spoke very quickly, "When we went to the Yule Ball, Fred asked Angelina out but he knew that I liked her, and after Fred went to the ball with her they began dating and one night she thought I was Fred and she we kissed but then she found out who I really was and she threw butterbeer all over me and told our whole year what I done, then she made me kiss Ms Norris to prove that I was sorry, she also took a picture of the kiss and still has it."

"YOU KISSED FILCH'S CAT?"

The trio were crying with laughter as George glared at them all. This only increased their laughed and Ron could not believe that George, who had teased him about his skills with girls for years, had made such a fool of himself with Angelina.

"It seems that you needed that book more than I did George," Ron teased. This made Harry laugh harder and George gave him a horribly sour look, however Hermione became more confused.

"What was the book?" she asked, Harry and Ron stopped laughing immediately in embarrassment of the fact that they had both read that book and took its advice. Harry had confided in Ron that after the war, Ginny was very angry at him for leaving her so Harry had used the book to get in her good graces.

George's face lit up and Ron knew that he was about to get revenge for what Ron had just done.

"Well you see, Hermy dearest-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Fine, I was just going to tell you that, for Ron's 17th birthday, me and Fred gave his an excellent present. We gave him a book called _12 Fail Safe Ways to Charm Witches, _which is, I suspect, how he managed to impress you, Herms."

_Shit!_ Ron thought _I am in for it now_. Ron looked at his very, very angry girlfriend and cowered under her glare.

"So, the only reason that you became nice and sensitive was because a _book_ told you to?"

"It wasn't that useful, really." Harry said, trying to calm her down.

"So, does Ginny know about this book, Harry?"

"No, and I don't think you should bother telling her. Surely, someone as smart and pretty as you would have better things to do?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, instead of answering she turned back to George.

"You can go now George; it's been 15 minutes so I think that the Veritaserum is mostly used up."

"None of you mention what I told you to anyone, ok?" George said.

"Well George, if I am about to tell someone I will think to myself, "If it was me, would George tell anyone?" I think we both know the answer to that." Hermione stated smugly, Ron laughed (he knew that his brother would have no trouble telling anyone if it was him). George scowled at her and left the room.

"That was the most fun I've had in days." Harry exclaimed the moment that George was out the door.

"I think we know what we should do with the interviews now," Ron said seriously, he glanced at the list of Order members, "and, coincidently, it would seem that my dear sister is next to be questioned. This is excellent revenge for everything that her and my brothers put me through. It's really a pity that Bill and Charlie have already been questioned, but there's still Perce too." He finished happily.

"Ok, we only have around 15 minutes worth of Veritaserum for each person anyway, so you will only be able to get one or two questions in. I will only allow this if you two don't take it too seriously, only fun questions, nothing major and only a few people, we are not, under any circumstances, going to ask anyone who will be offended." Hermione said. Ron was so in shock that she allowed this that he agreed immediately, as did Harry. This should make his day much more interesting; with their new plan for fun and mischief in his mind it was easy for Ron to forget, just for a while, the seriousness of this situation. If he was honest with himself he knew that he hadn't been bored earlier, he had been scared of what he was about to discover, who he was about to discover really but now they could pretend that the Veritaserum was a silly game and a chance to embarrass their family.

oo00OO00oo

One hour later, Ron was sure he hadn't laughed as much in weeks. Ginny's interview had been hilarious, obviously she wasn't the traitor, but he wasn't sure if Ginny would ever speak to him or Hermione again. Hermione wasn't happy about Ginny telling Ron, Harry and his mum (and who really knows how many others?) everything about Tim a few weeks ago so while Harry fetched his wife from the sitting room, Ron and Hermione had come up with an excellent plan using Ron's knowledge of their childhood and Hermione's knowledge of what would embarrass her.

Ron had to admit it; his girlfriend may be bloody brilliant but she is definitely evil! She asked Ginny about what she thought of Harry growing up and the answer was amazing, under the effects of Veritaserum Ginny babbled for 10 minutes about Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.

"…_I thought he was a big, strong hero that would rescue me and we would get married someday…I thought that he would fall in love with me the minute he saw me…I even wrote him fan mail…I wrote poems and mushy letters for Harry…"_

By the end of it, when the potion ran out, Harry had to stop her from hexing Ron and Hermione. Harry was laughing at Ginny too when Hermione informed him that it was his turn to be interviewed, apparently they needed to be sure that it was not Harry betraying them but Ron suspected that Hermione was still pissed at Harry for announcing to the entire Order that Tim proposed, not to mention the fact that they also paid Tim a visit. Ron knew better than anyone that Hermione could hold a grudge, so he prayed that they found the traitor before they reached his turn.

Hermione said that Ginny could stay for Harry's interview and Harry's alone, since he had heard her secrets. The three of them quickly crossed Harry off the list as a possible traitor so Hermione asked him what he done with the Maurders Map during the horcrux hunt. Ron nearly fainted with laughter as Harry described, in great detail, how he would stare at Ginny's dot for hours hoping that she could feel him missing her. Who knew Harry could be so fluffy? Ginny practically did a victory dance with this information and Harry nearly killed Hermione for that betrayal. Ginny left then though and the trio interviewed Hannah Longbottom, who was certainly not the traitor, because they didn't know too much about her, Hermione forbid they boys from asking her any embarrassing questions.

Poor, poor Hermione did not consider the fact that her name came after Harry's and after what she done to him, Harry would take revenge. There was no actual reason to give the potion to Hermione, considering that she was being tortured during the first information leak but Harry said that she should be questioned or it would look suspicious. Ha! Harry was just annoyed but Ron really didn't mind that much, it wasn't everyday your girlfriend was forced to tell the truth, was it?

"Are you Hermione Granger?" Harry asked.

"Obviously I am." Clearly she was not too happy with the current predicament and who could blame her? With everyone else, she had been there to control Ron and Harry and make sure that they didn't go too far now there was no one to restrain them.

"Have you ever given Benjamin Lestrange, or any Doom Soldier, information or addresses of the Order of the Phoenix?" Ron said calmly, it really was silly that they were asking her this but who cares?"

"No, I have not."

"Ok, good enough for me, now have we anymore questions, Harry?"

"Oh, I have a good one!" Harry exclaimed happily, "In our second year, were you one of the people who sent Lockhart a valentine?"

Ron laughed loudly, he remembered teasing her for weeks about that but they never actually discovered if she had sent him one. Hermione blushed scarlet but still managed to look at Harry furiously.

"Yes, in second year, I sent Lockhart a pink, frilly valentine card, happy now?"

"Extremely!" Ron laughed; he would never let her forget this. Harry was sniggering openly and had to sit down to keep from collapsing with laughter.

"You two are-!" Hermione looked as if she was choking on something, her face became red and she began gasping for air. It passed quickly and she looked up at them confused.

"Obviously whatever you were going to say was a lie, so we are not whatever-insult-you-were-going-to-call-us" Harry teased, he seemed much braver now that she was forced to tell the truth.

The Veritaserum ran out pretty quickly after that, although none of them minded, when you are best friends with someone for 14 years there isn't actually much that they didn't tell you, so Ron and Harry already know most of Hermione's secrets anyway. Ron was tempted to ask her if she ever visited that ruddy-pumpkin head in Bulgaria but Hermione would kill him for asking so he, wisely, avoided the topic.

oo00OO00oo

And so, it went on. They continued the questioning. After Hermione they interviewed Hestia, Justin, Katie and Kreacher, none of which had anything to do with the secrets told to Lestrange. At 6 o'clock the trio took a break from the questioning to have dinner.

When Ron, Harry and Hermione walked into the dining room everyone was already there, it shocked Ron when he saw how any people were there. The room was clearly expanded to the size of the Great Hall to accommodate everyone, there was 5 long tables, much like the House tables at Hogwarts, set up. There were easily over 100 people in the room, Ron knew that the families of every single Order member were at Grimmauld Place too but it still surprised him to see the huge numbers. The three of them quickly made their way to the second table in, where all the Weasleys, Longbottoms and Luna were seated. Harry quickly sat down beside James; Ginny was on the other side talking to her mother. Hermione sat down beside Luna and Ron sat across from her, beside George and Angelina.

"Hello Luna, how are you?" he heard Hermione ask while he was piling food onto his plate.

"Oh, I'm fine Hermione. It's a bit unfortunate that we have to stay here for a while though, isn't it? I miss Rolf quite a lot." Luna answered serenely.

"Who's Rolf, Luna?" Ron could not resist asking.

"He's a close friend." She answered, Ron sniggered at the thought of Luna's boyfriend but he shut up when Hermione shot him an irritated look.

"He was really nice, Luna," she said, nicely. Ron still found it quite ironic that Hermione was the one being nice to Luna; it was amazing how far they had come since the start of the DA really.

They finished there dinner quite quickly after that, George had been unusually quiet and Ron suspected that he was desperate for Ron and Hermione to forget what he had told them but Ron decided to save that story for the next family dinner, once this mess was over. The trio went back to the front room, which was still set up for them, after they had eaten.

"So, who's next?" Harry asked; Hermione consulted the list on her lap and frowned.

"It's Lavender's turn."

Ron groaned and Harry rolled his eyes, this was going to be really awkward. He hadn't said much to her since they broke up and, if last night's meeting was anything to go by, she clearly knew that the reason Ron broke up with her was because of Hermione.

"Ok, please just be nice Ron, eh?" Harry said condescendingly, really it wasn't always his fault!

"I'm always nice, Harry. Just go get her, Hermione."

Hermione left the room, but she muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, "why me?" Ron smirked; at least if he had to listen to his ex-girlfriend, he would see his current one get jealous (something she only was around Lavender). The two girls came back in the room, Hermione took her seat between her two friends and Lavender sat across from them. She looked extremely pale, she had dark circles under her eyes and she was shaking quite badly. Ron frowned, he had never seen her like this and he didn't know if it was because of how hard the last month had been or if it was because of something more sinister. She drunk the potion quickly and faced the trio.

"You are aware that you have been given Veritaserum by the Order of the Phoenix to uncover who the person leaking important information is?" Harry asked, he was looking more alert during this interview than any of the others and Ron wondered if he knew suspected something.

"Yes," she answered meekly and Ron got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He hated dated this girl for four years and he knew her quite well (not that he liked her that much, though) but he also knew when something was wrong.

"Are you Lavender Brown?" Hermione asked calmly.

"Clearly, who the hell else would I be?" Lavender snarled spitefully, Hermione looked angry and was about to retort but Ron intervened,

"Lavender, have you ever met with Benjamin Lestrange, or any Doom Soldier, apart from the day at the ministry when the Order fought him?"

Lavender closed her eyes and whispered so quietly that Ron wasn't sure of he heard correctly.

"Yes, I have."

The trio groaned as one, Ron let out a shocked gasp. Lavender? The person who had betrayed them was Lavender? The person he had dated for 3 years? The Lavender that he knew would never have done this to them, he may never have treated Lavender the best but she was still a nice person.

"Lavender, are you saying that you were the person who told the Doom Soldiers about the plan that we created to capture Lestrange and the person who gave out the addresses of the Order?" Harry demanded.

"Yes."

"Bloody hell!" Ron moaned, he placed his head in his hands and sighed deeply, was this really happening?

"Why would you do that?" Harry shouted as a new possibility occurred to Ron. Was it because of him? Did she do this to get revenge on him?

"Because, I was angry! I was so angry!" Lavender burst out, she was looking at him now, "You just dumped me Ron, and I knew why. It was because of her! You just ignored me and obsessed about her constantly while she was kidnapped. I thought that if you couldn't get Lestrange, then she would have to pay for what she done. So I told him about the plan."

Ron had never felt like such an idiot, he had used Lavender and ignored her so much that he had pushed her to this, but why couldn't she just get revenge on him? It wasn't Hermione's fault that he loved her but it was Hermione who really suffered for Lavender's actions.

"You would have let me get killed? Just because your boyfriend broke up with you?" Hermione enquired, her voice shook with emotion and Ron knew she was angry at the reason she was tortured for so, so long.

"I wasn't thinking straight, but I really just hate you because you always got what I wanted," Lavender said, tears were coming down her face now, "I was really sorry for what I done after it happened and I regretted that I was part of the reason someone was tortured."

"If you were so bloody sorry, then why the hell did you give out those addresses? You didn't seem all that sorry when you were biting Hermione's head off last night, did you?" Harry roared; he was clearly furious that his, for lack of a better word, sister was put through agony for such a silly reason. Guilt was coursing through Ron's veins; this was entirely his bloody fault, because he just had to get back at Hermione by going out with Lavender.

"BECAUSE I SAW THEM!" Lavender screeched and Ron thought she had lost her mind, "I_ was_ really, really sorry and I knew that I done something terrible but then I saw them, Harry, and it pushed me to go back and give him the addresses."

Harry looked thoroughly confused now, and Hermione looked in like she was in shock.

"What did you see, Lavender?" She asked quietly, she handed Lavender more of the Veritaserum because the 15 minutes were running out. Lavender glared at her as she took the glass but she knew that she couldn't get out of it, so she swallowed the potion without complaint.

"I saw you Hermione, and you Ron," she said, not breaking eye contact with Hermione, "at the burrow on George's birthday, in Ron's room."

Ron's eyes widened in recognition, he knew exactly what Lavender would have seen had she been looking in his room that night.

"What are you talking about, Lavender?" Harry asked, impatiently.

"I wanted to make up with you Won-won, so I went up to your room, but I saw them, Harry," She was sobbing hysterically now, "They were talking, and saying how much they love each other! We hadn't even been broken up three weeks and he was already back together with her!"

Ron gulped and Hermione blushed, embarrassedly, as Harry turned towards them with a look of shock.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading and sorry I haven't updated in a while but I've been so busy, I don't really like this chapter because I am really bad at writing the embarrassing stuff and I couldn't really think of any embarrassing stories. The idea for George's story was quite close to something that I read on someone else's story though. Please review :]


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

_Author's Notes__: I have never actually put a disclaimer on this story (am I supposed to?) so just wanted to say that I obviously don't own Harry Potter. Ok, I know that it has been ages since I updated but I have been so busy with exams that I never got the chance. However, I don't have much to do now in school so I should be able to update regulary again now. So here's Chapter 21, please tell me what you think._

_Thanks to OliWest, my beta for this story._

Hermione's POV

It had only been 10 minutes; it felt like much longer to her. It had only been 10 minutes since the trio had discovered the traitor, Lavender. It had only been 10 minutes since she discovered that everybody's lives had been endangered because she and Ron didn't consider that someone would hear them. It had been only 10 minutes since Harry had given them a look of shock, anger and betrayal. It definitely felt like much longer.

"_Obliviate_," Harry muttered to Lavender's unconscious form. After discovering that she had leaked Order plans and information, the trio decided it would be best to remove her memory of the Order's headquarters and their more recent plans. She would still remember what the Order is, that she was in it, which of her friends were in it and that she betrayed them, but she couldn't give anyone any more important information. To protect her from Lestrange's wrath, they decided to send her to a safe house in America; they would send her an owl when she is safe to return.

Hermione thought this the best course of action for, despite her anger at Lavender's betrayal, she could see that Lavender had been suffering from her decisions, having been tortured by Lestrange as well. Hermione believed that Lavender was only trying to hurt her and Ron and she regretted that she got the rest of the Order involved; she had said as much under Veritaserum. Hermione still couldn't find it within herself to forgive Lavender but she could not help feeling sorry for the girl, after all, Hermione knew only too well what the Cruciatus Curse felt like and she would never, ever, wish that on another human being.

She was distracted from her thoughts by Harry was now Floo powder in the fireplace and disappearing with Lavender. A new feeling of dread came over her, what could she say to Harry? It was partly her fault that they were all in this mess now.

Ron opened his mouth, about to say something but, at that moment, Harry stumbled out of the fireplace. He stared at them for a minute that seemed to last hours. 15 minutes. It had only been 15 minutes.

"I don't know what to say to you two," Harry said with a humourless laugh, the knot in my stomach tightens, Harry was definitely angry with us.

"Harry, mate, I'm so sorry. I know this is my fault-"

"Actually, Ron, I am pretty sure that it is both your faults!" Harry intervened before I could, the room descended into that prickly silence yet again.

Harry threw himself into a nearby armchair and buried his face in his hands.

"Harry, I'm so, so sorry, I had no idea-"

"You know what is unbelievable, Hermione?" Harry spat, without waiting for an answer, he continued, "The fact that we have spent weeks, weeks, going over every single member of the Order, searching for any motives that someone could have for ratting us out and you two, you two, just sat there and didn't bother to consider that maybe, just maybe, the reason that we were betrayed is because Ron and you pissed off his ex-girlfriend. Why the hell didn't you two think to inform me of this tiny piece of information? That it could be your fault that we are all gathered in this stinking house?"

Tears stung at her eyes as she tried desperately to control them, there was no point. Harry was right, wasn't he? What if something had happened when the Doom Soldiers attacked the homes, it would be her fault. Why didn't she consider that Lavender would do that to hurt her? She knew the reason; Hermione wouldn't believe someone capable of something so horrible because of such a petty reason. Her eyes met Ron's, he tried to give her a reassuring smile when he saw her tears but it came out more of a grimace. Ron turned to Harry then; he was starting to look annoyed, judging by his red ear tips.

"Come on, how were we supposed to guess it had anything to do with us?"

"Well, you're meant to be an auror!"

"So are you! You didn't notice anything wrong either!" Ron shot back.

"Oh, but I didn't have all the details, did I, Ron? I've only been you're best friend for 14 years and neither of you bothered to tell me this!" Harry sneered.

"Grow up, Harry, it isn't any of your bloody business is it?

"Evidently it is, if my family is paying for the fact that you couldn't keep it in your pants!"

Ron looked like he was about to explode at any minute and Harry had his fists balled so tightly it looked like they would bleed, she hated this.

"STOP IT NOW! BOTH OF YOU!" Hermione shouted, not being able to stand hearing her boys argue anymore. "Harry, I know that we messed up, and I am so, so sorry but we can't do anything about it now. We can't change this, there are people depending on us and we can't let them down."

Harry unclenched his fist, throwing one more glowering look back at Ron, and turned to her.

"I need to get away from you two right now; we will talk about this in the morning." He stalked out of the room and slammed the door loudly behind him. It hurt her, to see him so upset with her. More tears slide down her face, silently, before she felt strong, safe arms encircle her waist.

Hermione turned her head into Ron's chest, both of them standing in silence. They were in shock.

"He's really furious with us." She mumbled, after a while.

"Yeah, I know. Still, he shouldn't have said some of those things."

"I can't believe that it has come to this."

His arms stiffened around her, as she looked up at him curiously.

"This is all my fault, if I hadn't been such an idiot for the last four years we wouldn't be here. I just had to try and make you jealous, like some stupid teenager and now I've caused all of this." He said quietly, before burying his head in her shoulder.

"I am sure that I had my part in this too, I should have just apologized, shouldn't I?"

"I don't think that's our style," he laughed, and she couldn't help the smile that came to her lips.

"Perhaps not," Hermione allowed, "Oh Merlin, I can't even remember what that fight was about now, can you?"

"No, probably about spew, or something."

She laughed before hitting him in the arm,

"It's S.P.E.W!"

"Trust me, I know."

She leant into him for a while again before they heard footsteps upstairs; they couldn't stay like this forever.

"I think I should go to bed."

He looked down at her and nodded, clearly understanding that she meant her own bed tonight.

"Yeah, I really don't think it would be good for us if Harry caught us in the morning."

She laughed again briefly, this conversation making her feel like they were 17 again, not mature adults that could make their own decisions.

"Goodnight Ron." She said, detangling herself from him.

"Night, and don't worry, it will be ok."

Hermione smiled once more, before retreating out of the room.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

"What's wrong, Harry?"

"What?" Harry asked, pulling away from his wriggling son, who didn't want to get dressed, and looking at his concerned wife.

"What's wrong? You've been brooding since you came in last night, and you looked furious then too but you just got into bed and didn't speak. What happened?"

"We found the traitor."

Ginny looked half relieved and half devastated at that revelation, and who could blame her? Secretly, they were all hoping that there was some kind of reasonable explanation for the Order information being leaked, but there was none.

"W-who was it then?" Ginny asked, with a determined look. Clearly she was not going to wait for the Order meeting to be told.

"It was Lavender." Harry said glumly.

"WHAT? WHY THE HELL DID SHE DO THAT?"

"Because of all that stuff with Ron and Hermione, you know the way he was looking for her so much and then he dumped her," Harry knew this was only part of the reason but despite his anger at his friends he wouldn't tell their secret, it wouldn't feel right-especially since they aren't talking at the moment.

"Why that little b-"

"Ginny! James is here," Harry said pointing to their son that was sitting on their bed, giggling at what he knew was going to come out of his mother's mother.

"Oh, sorry, but I just can't believe that she would do that! I mean, sure, I never liked her but I would never think that she would be capable of that."

"Yeah, well, she is, apparently. Anyway, can we talk about something else? I want to forget about this for an hour, before we have to tell everyone."

oo00OO00oo

The Potters walked into the large dining room, there were 4 large tables set up inside the room. It reminded Harry greatly of the Great Hall, the tables were about the size of the house tables too and the room had clearly been expanded to hold the massive amount of people gathered here for their safety, there looked to be well over a hundred people in the dining room.

Harry and his small family walked to the table on the far side of the room, it was more or less all Weasleys, or "honorary" Weasley. As Harry spotted his best friends talking quietly beside Victoire and Fred, Harry felt a wave of shame hit him. He really shouldn't have said some of the things he did last night. It wasn't really their fault. Still, why did he feel so angry with them?

He knew why but he did not want to admit it. Harry was hurt that they didn't tell him they were back together, hadn't he been the one encouraging them for years to get past that fight and make up with each other? He was he one that reassured them that there was still hope. He always knew that they would get back together, but he also assumed that he would know immediately when they did. He supposed that he got used to being the only thing that they had in common anymore, it took him by surprise that they managed to keep something a secret from him. He knew that last night was an overreaction and he promised himself that he would apologise properly the first opportunity that he could.

Before he reached the table, Harry looked at them properly. He was so surprised with what he saw that he nearly gasped. He wondered how he could have not known that they were back together before now by just looking at them closely, it was so obvious now that he knew what to look for. The stiffness and awkwardness they had when sitting next to each other weeks ago, when they first discovered Lestrange, was now completely gone, they looked so comfortable now. Ron was looking at her intently while she talked, and her body was completely turned into his, they weren't even touching and yet the position looked so intimate. Harry was so used to talking with them separately nowadays that he forgot how much easier they talked and connected with each other.

Anger came rushing back to him, he would have been so happy for them, didn't they know that? Didn't they know that he had been waiting for them to wise up for four bloody years, he was the one who cared about them most and would be happiest for them but they still didn't tell him?

Harry walked past the two of them without greeting them; Ginny looked at him curiously but followed him anyway. They came to the top of the table and Ginny sat down with James but Harry remained standing.

"Good morning everyone," he called to the room and immediately every eye was in him, "After breakfast, can everybody that is in the Order please come to the meeting room. We have an important announcement. Meet us there in 10 minutes, sorry for cutting your breakfast short but this is urgent."

Swallowing his pride, Harry walked down to the bottom of the Weasley table and stopped when he reached Ron and Hermione.

"Can you two come with me? I think we need to have a word." He told them seriously, they both nodded and followed him into the Meeting Room.

"Harry, I'm so sor-" Hermione began the minute Ron closed the door, but Harry interrupted her.

"No, you were right. This wasn't your fault, neither of you could have known that this would happen. You have a right to have your own life and I shouldn't have said what I did last night, I crossed the line and I'm sorry." Harry said, sincerely.

Hermione rushed forward and hugged him tightly, he smiled to himself as he embraced his sister, more or less; Harry really did hate fighting with them. Ron clapped him on the back and he knew that they were good again.

"So, you two finally got a clue, eh?" Harry teased, laughing when Hermione turned red.

"SHUT UP HARRY!"

Once the boys stopped laughing, there was a knock at the door and the Order members began to pour in. Harry became serious again, as he nodded to his two friends,

"Ok everyone, listen up," Ron began, calling everyone to attention, "First of all, is everyone here?"

"Actually, dear, Kingsley came this morning and asked your father to come to work," Molly told him.

"I though no one was allowed to go to work?" Hermione asked and Harry had to suppress an eye roll. She was probably annoyed that Arthur could go into work and she couldn't, same old Hermione.

"Well there has been some kind of attack on some muggles and Arthur was needed to help control the situation, Kingsley said that he would explain it when they get here later, but the Aurors are handling it at the moment."

"Is it Lestrange?" Ron asked.

"They're not sure, dear, but most likely."

Silence greeted this statement and Harry thought it best to move on until they get more information about the attack.

"So, no one else is missing?"

"Lavender isn't here," Seamus called, looking concerned. Harry groaned inwardly at his own stupidity; he shouldn't have asked that.

"Well, that is the reason we are here." Hermione said, trying to gain control again. Harry shot her a grateful look.

"Is she ok?"

"Yes, she's fine. Seamus all will be explained if you let us start the meeting." Ron snapped. Seamus glared at him; in the last few years whatever friendship the two room-mates had has been destroyed. It was well known that Seamus liked Lavender, and therefore hated Ron. Seamus looked like he was going to say more but he just closed his mouth and nodded to Harry.

"Ok, Lavender is no longer an Order member."

"Did she quit because of him?" Seamus demanded, glaring at Ron, who rolled his eyes.

"Seamus, listen!" Hermione commanded and the Irish man finally shut up, clearly terrified of making Hermione any angrier, "Lavender did not quit the Order, she was withdrawn from the Order."

"Why?" was chorused across the room.

"Everyone is aware that you were questioned under Veritaserum yesterday?" Harry began, many people nodded and a few gasped with realization of Lavender's dismissal, but many still looked bewildered, "The interviews were carried out to discover who had been leaking information to Doom Soldiers, the results showed that Lavender had given Benjamin Lestrange addresses of Order member and details of our plans."

The room exploded.

"HOW DARE SHE?"

"…THAT BITCH!"

"…CONNIVING LITTLE…"

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Ron commanded, and the room became silent again.

"Why would she do that? I don't understand," Seamus said, looking thoroughly confused.

Harry turned to his best friends, who were looking very guilty. Ron nodded to Hermione, took a deep breath, and turned to face the room.

"The reason was-"

"Lavender's to tell," Harry interrupted before Ron could finish. It wasn't fair for his friends to have to take the blame for Lavender's actions. Lavender and Ron were broken up when he got back together with Hermione, so there was no reason for them to be blamed, despite Harry's initial reaction. He may not have agreed with their decision to tell no one of their relationship but he knew that it would be suicidal for them to tell everyone now. It was good news that his friends were together again and he would not allow their happiness to be plagued by Lavender's actions, because he knew that some of the Order, namely Seamus, would not react well to the reason that Lavender betrayed them all.

Hermione threw him a thankful smile before she continued, "Lavender has been taken to a safe house for her own safety because we believe that Lestrange will come after her. Once this is over, the Order can decide whether to press charges against Lavender because, technically, she aided Lestrange in a criminal attack but it will be your decision."

The room nodded and Harry briefly wondered whether Lavender would be trailed, he didn't personally want her to go to Azkaban because he honestly didn't think Lavender was in her right mind when she made her decisions.

"Why is she getting special treatment when she betrayed us?" Aberforth roared.

"Because, she said, under Veritaserum, that she was very sorry and you wouldn't want her death on her conscious, would you?" Hermione shot back, Harry marvelled at how Hermione defended her when it was Hermione that suffered most for Lavender's actions, Harry knew she probably felt guilty about what her and Ron drove Lavender to.

"We are going to need a volunteer to watch over her until this is over. The safe house is in America and the volunteer will not be able to contact anyone here until we tell them it is safe, unless in an emergency. The person will be staying with Lavender."

"I'll do it!" Seamus said, Harry almost laughed at the predictability of this volunteer but controlled himself. It would be best for everyone if Seamus went with Lavender, it would save them from more arguments over the situation.

"Ok, that's great Seamus, thank you, we will let you know when everything is ok again, The house is stocked with food and money, as long as you live like a muggle you should be safe. The address is 40 Melborn Road, North Hampton; you can use the Floo in the dining room. Leave whenever you want, just before the end of the day." Ron said.

"I'll leave now." Seamus agreed, he left the room and went to retrieve his stuff.

"Ok, that's everything for now. Thank you everyone."

oo00OO00oo

The mood at dinner time was much better than it had been since they arrived, as upset as they were about Lavender, it also felt like a great relief not to be second guessing whoever you're talking to-think that maybe they are the person that betrayed the Order.

Harry found himself seated beside Ron and Hermione, with George, Angelina and Luna across from them (Ginny went to put James down for a nap), and he was thoroughly enjoying George's story.

"…and then, her nose exploded and everything went everywhere!"

Harry laughed loudly, Ron looked like he was going to collapse with laughter too and Luna was hysterical. Hermione had a disgusted look on her face while Angelina just looked bored with the story; clearly she had heard it before.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps in the hall; the entire room looked up to the door. Kingsley and Arthur walked through; Harry noticed that they look out of breath so he concluded that there must be urgent news.

When Kingsley spotted them he immediately came rushing to their table, Arthur hot on his heels.

"Hey Kingsley, Arthur, have you got news?" he asked. They looked grave and Harry got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, but they weren't looking at him, they were looking to his right.

"Well? Was it Lestrange, the attack?" Ron asked, he too was looking nervous.

"Yes, boys, there was an attack and it was Lestrange," Arthur said, looking older and sadder than he had since the war, "But, we will talk about this later, n-not right now, please."

"Hermione, can I have a word with you, please?" Kingsley asked, and for the first time in his life, Harry did not find Kingsley's voice calming in any way.

"Of course." Hermione replied, she followed Kingsley to the door but Harry saw her throw a nervous look to Ron, who looked just as nervous as she did.

"What happened, Dad?" Ron demanded, the minute Hermione was out of earshot.

"There was a family gathering today, at Hermione's parents' house. Around 40 people were there, all her family, and the Doom Soldiers attacked. There was a death, unfortunately."

Harry shared a look with Ron, how the hell could this happen?

"O-one of h-her parents?" Ron asked, nervously.

"No, not her parents, thankfully they managed to get out with the rest of the family. It was her Grandfather, on her mother's side, that was murdered."

The room became silent; Harry realized that everyone had been listening to this conversation. Suddenly, this battle seemed so much more real than it did 10 minutes ago when he was laughing with George about some stupid prank, now there was another death and someone else's life was destroyed.

The door opened again, Kingsley came rushing into the room and headed straight for Harry and Ron.

"I'm sure Arthur has filled you in, Hermione is quite upset. I think it would be best for you two to go and see her now, we'll handle everything down here."

Ron jumped up like a shot and raced out of the room as quickly as he could, Harry was straight behind him. He was furious, absolutely furious, Lestrange was making this personal. It became clear to Harry that he wasn't after World Domination, no he wanted revenge.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

_Author's Notes; __Thanks to OliWest for being my beta for this story and please review_

Ron's POV

When Ron reached Hermione's bedroom he took a steady breath to calm his anger - how was he going to comfort her? He heard quiet sobs coming from the other side of the door and he wasted no more time. Hermione needed him now. He rushed into the room, leaving the door open for Harry who was sure to be following him.

Ron didn't have to look far to find her. Hermione was sitting up in her bed, surrounded by blankets but still completely clothed. There were tears streaming down her face, which she tried to hide, pointlessly, when she spotted him. Ron walked over to her, then crawled into the bed beside her. Pulling Hermione to him he wrapped his arms tightly around her as she rested her head on his chest. Ron felt her tears soaking through his shirt, but it didn't bother him in the slightest.

"They're going to hate me." Hermione said in a shaky, hoarse voice.

"What? Who would hate you? It wasn't your fault." Ron said quietly.

He could imagine exactly what she was going through, when he lost Fred it felt like the world was collapsing around him. Hermione didn't have any siblings, unless you counted Harry, and Ron knew that when she was growing up she was extremely close to her mother's father. Ron had even met him a few times; Hermione was exactly like him, that much was obvious. When Fred died, the only thing that kept Ron going every day, the only thing that made him get out of bed, the only reason he had to, was Hermione. She had been there for him constantly, whether he wanted to forget about Fred, talk about him or cry over his death, Hermione had been there. It was a favour that he hoped he would never have to return for her, but he would. He would do all he could now to try and help her get through her grief.

"My whole family, my parents…my mother. I was the reason that he was killed, it's all my fault." She broke down in renewed sobs, Ron rubbed his hand down the hair trying to soothe her, "I didn't even think about them Ron…what kind of person does that make me?"

"Stop it, this was not your fault. You have always done everything that you could for your family, Hermione. Your Grandad loved you, no matter what." Ron tried to reassure her but he felt like he was failing miserably, so he pulled her closer to him and placed a kiss on her head.

"Ron, it doesn't matter if he loved me, it's still my fault that he died!" Hermione cried with a note of hysteria in her voice. Ron was about to respond, when Harry's voice interrupted him,

"Wasn't it always you, Hermione, who told me time and time again that I couldn't blame myself for the deaths around me? Wasn't it you that spent hours convincing me that Fred, Remus, Tonks, and Colin's deaths weren't my fault?"

Ron realized that Harry must have being standing there for a while and listening to their conversation. He was probably trying to work out the right thing to say.

"That was different Harry-"

"No, it isn't different at all. You didn't want this to happen; your Granddad would know that. It is not your fault that Lestrange targeted you. In fact, he targeted you for all the good that you have done for our world, your Grandad would be proud of you Hermione, he would never blame you."

More tears flooded down Hermione's face, as her whole body wracked with sobs, Ron kissed her head and rubbed his hand up and down her back, something that always used to calm her. It worked, a little, because her sobbing became silent as she hugged Ron tighter.

Harry looked horrified, clearly thinking that he had said the wrong thing. Ron shot him a reassuring nod, and motioned for him to come over. Harry walked towards them and sat on Hermione's other side. She moved closer to Ron but lifted her head and rested it on Harry's shoulder with her arms still clutched around Ron's torso. Ron knew this was what she needed right now, the two of them who she trusted more than anyone, just to sit with her and look after her for a while. An understanding passed between them, tomorrow they would get up and fight again but tonight they would allow themselves to mourn. To mourn for Hermione's Grandfather, to mourn for the end of the peace they had been enjoying in the last few years and to mourn for all 9 of the lives lost fighting this new threat. Once tomorrow came, Ron knew that they would put on their "Golden Trio" front and lead the Order again, lead them and do what is right, like they had been doing since the age of 11. There was no doubt in Ron's mind that Lestrange was planning on another war, but he wasn't going to make Voldermort mistakes. They had to stop him. It felt fitting that tonight they would rely on the friendship that allowed them to defeat Voldermort, once more.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

Harry walked down the stairs the next morning, deep in thought. He was remembering that when the first ministry attack occurred he hadn't taken it seriously at all. He was delighted that an investigation would be carried out by the Order. He honestly thought that they would discover the Auror department traitor, and then they would find out who was behind the attack, arrest them and never think about it again. It wasn't like he was happy that they ministry was attacked, no, not at all, he just thought of it as a great way for his friends to forgive each other and renew their friendship. How wrong he was. Benjamin Lestrange was pure evil; he was manipulative, determined and malicious. He was his mother's son. Harry felt guilty for not considering that Lestrange could be powerful, the first time he actually became wary of this case was when he discovered that it was Bellatrix's son attacking them. But still, he knew that he was missing something. It didn't all fit together. Benjamin wanted revenge for mother, and father too Harry supposed (since he was currently in Azkaban) but why was he targeting the trio so much when, technically, they did not harm Bellatrix. He couldn't make sense of any of this. The most confusing part, however, was the amount of followers that Lestrange had gathered, how the hell did he find enough people to build an army? It wasn't like Voldermort, who wanted World-Domination and a Pure-Bloods first policy, no Lestrange specifically wanted revenge on the Golden Trio for something that they didn't do and Harry didn't really think that many people would join and army that had no real aim, except to kill a member of the Golden Trio. And yet they had. Something definitely didn't fit.

Harry was distracted from his musing by loud voices coming from the front door. Frowning, he reached the bottom of the stairs and took in the sight before him. Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie, Audrey and George were all gathered around the two new arrivals that Harry could see. There was a man and a woman. The man had a very thick and curly mass of blonde hair; he was going slightly grey in the roots. He had a kind and content face, yet he looked solemn today, and laugh lines were present at the corner of his mouth. The woman beside him was beautiful, even in her late fifties, her hair was brown and she had warm brown eyes to match, she looked kind-hearted but her eyes were tired and sad looking this morning.

"Robert, Jean!" he called to Hermione's parents, recognising them instantly.

Jean turned around to him, a warm smile came to her face, as she rushed forward and tugged him tightly, with her husband coming behind her and shaking his hand enthusiastically.

"Oh, Harry, it's brilliant to see you," Jean said.

After the war, Hermione, Ron and Harry went to Australia to retrieve her parents. Harry had discovered that Hermione's parent knew very little about Hermione's life and they were shocked to hear of what the trio had been doing for the last few years, the proper account of events leaving nothing out. They were disappointed that Hermione had to send them away and that they couldn't protect her but they did understand that it was war, so they had forgiven her easily enough. The only condition was that they would try and mend their broken relationship with her daughter. From that moment on they became more involved in Hermione's life than they had been since she was 11 years old. The Grangers all stayed at the Burrow after the war, creating an amazing bond with the Weasleys, until Hermione returned to Hogwarts. They helped the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione out when their grief for Fred, and pain of the war, became too much for them to function with, through the simple actions of making dinners and comforting the family. The Grangers had become as much a part of the family as Hermione herself.

Of course that changed quite a lot when Ron and Hermione broke up, it wasn't that either family blamed Ron or Hermione for the break-up, it was more that it was painful for Ron and Hermione to always be around the other's family. So, just like Hermione never came to the Burrow after the break-up, neither did her parents. However, as far as Harry knew, Arthur and Molly still tried to go out with Jean and Robert once a month or so to a muggle restaurant but everyone had really missed having them around more, as Harry could tell by the crowd around the door.

"Arthur came to get us this morning, from the safehouse we were at. He said that the Order would make allowances to allow us here, so that we could see Hermione." Robert explained.

"Oh, that's great. It will be brilliant to have you here, Hermione will be delighted." Harry smiled; he knew this would cheer his best friend up after the devastating news of last night.

Harry and Ron had developed a particularly good relationship with Hermione's parents; it was very easy for them to connect with Jean and Robert because they were just like Hermione. And the Grangers felt that they had already knew Ron and Harry personally with how much Hermione had told them about her friends. Harry got along with them instantly, just like with the Weasleys. The last time he had seen Hermione's parents was when he and Ron had rescued her from Lestrange and when they came to visit her, her parents were there too but Harry had only seen them really, they had thanked him for helping to save Hermione but they hadn't actually talked. Before that incident it had been four years since Harry saw Jean and Robert.

"Yes, I hope so, It's great to see you Harry, we didn't get a chance to chat at the hospital but we've heard so much from Hermione, she told us that you married Ginny and you now have a little boy," Jean said to him.

"Yes, James and there's and we have another one of the way too," Harry smiled at them proudly; he loved talking about his growing family.

"Oh how lovely, I can't wait to meet little James, Hermione talks about him all of the time of course," Jean continued.

"Yeah, he adores his godmother too." Harry smiled but he became serious again as he thought of the reason that Jean and Robert were actually here, "Listen, I am so sorry about what happened last night, I'm sorry for your loss."

Tears formed in Jeans eyes at the comment, but she smiled gratefully at Harry. Harry knew that no matter what age you were, the death of a parent would always be devastating. Robert nodded at Harry over his wife's head.

"Yes, well, he hadn't been the same since my mother passed away a few years ago, and he was certainly getting very old, nearly 90." Jean said, through her tears, "But you, all of you, you're going to find the person that did this, and make them pay, aren't you?"

Harry's heart broke for the woman before him. In just a few months her world had been turned upside down by a world that she didn't even belong too, and yet she never held a grudge against all wizards and witches. Her daughter had been kidnapped and tortured brutally, she was rescued on the brink of death and was still suffering from the nightmares and pain. And now her father had been murdered, with the rest of her family in extreme danger, their home had come under attack and was destroyed, yet she still had faith in the good side.

"Don't worry, Jean, the Order know what they're doing." Robert said calmly, trying to comfort his wife, and bringing Harry out of his musings, "So, where is Hermione?"

"Oh, um, I think she's upstairs, she was…talking…to Ron before I came down," Harry stammered, feeling extremely awkward all of a sudden. Harry had left Hermione's room at about 2am but he knew that Ron had stayed there; somehow Harry doubted that Hermione would be pleased with him if he told her father that.

Robert raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked over at Jean, who looked equally as shocked.

"Ron?" she asked.

Harry and the Weasleys nodded.

"And they are talking to one another?" Robert inquired.

The small group chuckled, Harry more loudly than the others considering he knew that they done more than talk nowadays.

"Wow, I mean we saw him at the hospital, after her…k-kidnapping but I thought that it was just Order business, you know, I never thought I'd see the day that them two are on speaking terms." Jean said.

"Yeah, it surprised us too but apparently they have to talk to "save the world", again," George laughed, "However much they don't want to."

"Yes, it's definitely good that they are friends again, I've really missed having Hermione around." Molly said.

"Yes, hopefully they decide to just remain friends this time, I'm not sure we could cope with another break-up." Arthur smiled.

"And, to think, all that it took for them to swallow their pride was another evil, dark wizard wrecking havoc on the world," Audrey said, it always surprised Harry that Percy had married Audrey because she had such a good sense of humour and, well, Percy didn't.

"Well, it will be great to see Ron again, I always liked that kid." Robert said, this was certainly true, while most fathers hated their daughter's boyfriends Robert and Ron got on amazingly well, after a few weeks of interrogations from Robert. Harry supposed it may be slightly different now, after the break-up and the whole Lavender situation, Harry didn't think that Robert would be all that pleased to discover Ron and Hermione were back together. Harry had to stifle a laugh as he realized how Hermione's father being here would affect the couple because the simple matter was that Hermione was "Daddy's little princess" and there was no way that Ron and Hermione would continue to sleep with each other under the same roof as her father.

As Molly led the Grangers into the dining room, and stocked their plates up with a sickening amount of food, Hermione and Ron entered the room. They were whispering to each other each other at first so they didn't notice the new arrivals until they reached the table. When Hermione saw her parents she rushed forward. She went straight to her mother and hugged her tightly before turning to give her father a kiss on the cheek.

"Mum, Dad, what are you doing here?" she asked them happily, as she sat down beside her parents but Harry noticed that there were still black bags under her eyes, which were ever so slightly red. She was hurting badly at the moment and who could blame her? She hadn't recovered from being tortured so much properly, and then the happiness that she gained when she got back together with Ron had been destroyed by the news of her grandfather's death. Harry felt really guilty for what happened to her, clearly the reason that Lestrange had done so much to her was because it was too hard to get to Ron and Harry, not to mention their families. She had been left alone in her flat, no one had even noticed that she was gone for hours and then they hadn't even taken any extra measures to secure her families safety, they should have protected her.

"We are here to see you, apparently we are allowed to join the Order, even though we can't do magic." Jean said, then she began to whisper something in Hermione's ear that the boys couldn't hear.

Ron sat down beside Harry, directly across from the Grangers. The minute he sat down, Robert seemed to become aware of his presence.

"Hello Ron, it's good to see you again," Robert said brightly, "So how have you been?"

"Oh, um, you know…just fine." Ron stuttered.

"Good, good and how's that girlfriend of yours?"

"G-girlfriend?" Ron asked, throwing a "save me" look in Hermione's direction but she was having a hushed conversation with Jean, not paying them any attention. When Ron gave Harry the same look, Harry only smirked. Harry was sure that Ron could handle Hermione's father, considering what Harry had to go through with the amount of brothers that Ginny has.

"Yes, your parents were telling us about her the last time we went out, but I can't seem to remember her name, sorry."

"Oh, you mean Lavender?" Harry asked helpfully, fighting back his laughter. Things were about to get much more interesting.

oo00OO00oo

"So, this Lestrange bloke wants revenge on Harry, Ron and Hermione for what happened during the war?" Robert asked calmly, but there was anger in his eyes at the thought of someone targeting his little girl, "And that is why Hermione was kidnapped and you were forced out of your homes and can no longer go to work? And it's these Doom Soldiers that attacked our house yesterday?

"Yes, that basically it." Ron confirmed, the Order had spent the last half an hour bringing the Grangers up to speed-they had been given full Order member privileges and security clearance. The meeting was going quite well so far but they still hadn't made any progress yet.

"And you three are in charge of fighting him, but you don't know anything about him except that his mother was Bellatrix Lestrange?" Jean asked.

"That's correct." Harry said.

"And you're leading the Order, as a trio?" Jean inquired.

Hermione nodded.

"Well, I just have one question," Robert said, directing his question at Harry, "How the hell did you get those two to work together?" He finished, gesturing to Ron and Hermione.

Laughter ran throughout the table.

"Dad!" Hermione screeched indignantly.

"Oh Hermione, I forgot how much I love your Dad." George laughed.

"Honestly Robert, the needed a little encouragement from me," Harry said seriously, ignoring both Hermione and George.

"Ha! A little convincing? It was practically blackmail." Ron said, as everyone laughed remembering that meeting. How Hermione didn't want to be outdone by Lavender and had agreed when Harry, rather slyly, proclaimed that she was capable of helping everyone.

"So how are you going to find Lestrange?" Jean queried timidly.

The Order exchanged uncomfortable looks.

"At the moment we have no idea how to find him Jean, he hasn't made a single mistake," Arthur said.

"Apart from challenging us, of course," Ron said, after seeing Jean's terrified expression, "I know that we will find him."

Harry was quite impressed with how much his friend had grown up; he was quite an impressive person nowadays. Clearly the Grangers thought so too as they relaxed immediately.

"What is the Order doing at the moment then?" Robert asked.

"At the moment we are focusing on recruiting new members. Minerva is talking to some seventh years, and those just out of Hogwarts that would be able to fight with us in an emergency but our main hope is other countries." Neville said.

"What do you mean?"

"You see, after the war the Order of the Phoenix became well known and how much we did also became well known. That's why other countries began forming their own Orders, for an emergency. We hope that we can convince as many countries as possible to join our cause." Charlie said, "Hannah, Ernie and Justin all left yesterday to talk to some countries, since they aren't main targets it should be safe enough for them."

"Won't the Order be enough?" asked Robert worriedly.

"Dad, right now we have counted that Lestrange has at least 100 Doom Soldiers, and they are only the one that we have seen. The Order has roughly around 50 full members. We have to assume that Lestrange has more than the ones that attacked everyone's homes, that means we are completely outnumbered."

"Wow, that is a lot of support."

"That is something that has been bothering me," Harry said, finally voicing the thoughts that had been plaguing him, "I don't see how he could have gathered so many Doom Soldiers so quickly, especially since nearly all of the Death Eaters are either dead or in prison and Lestrange was virtually unknown until a few months ago."

"Word must be getting around somehow." Dean concluded.

"Yes, but shouldn't we be thinking of who would join him?" Padma said, bringing up a point Harry hadn't considered.

"Well that's rather obvious isn't it? The people that joined must be those that hate the Golden Trio most." Luna stated.

"Who?" was the unspoken question.

"If the main purpose of the attacks is revenge then those behind them must be the people that suffered most when Voldermort went down?" offered Percy.

"Duh, Perce, that's the point of revenge," George muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up George!" Hermione barked, and for once her remained quiet. "The people that suffered most after Voldermort were Death Eaters but there can't possibly be over 100 Death Eaters that were never captured, especially ones that would risk their freedom to go after us. And it's not very likely that completely new recruit would join just for revenge on us, you would need more of an aim than that to risk your life."

Everyone lapsed into thought again, this point had been brought up so many times but no one had been able to offer a solution so far. For Harry, who the Doom Soldiers actually were not as important as why they followed and respected Lestrange so much. There had to have been more of a reason than that he was Bellatrix Lestrange's son.

Ron gasped suddenly, breaking everyone from their thoughts, "Their children! Oh how bloody obvious! How the bloody hell could we have missed that? It has to be the children of Death Eaters."

"Ron, you're being ridiculous, that is just not a plausible answer. It has not merit whatsoever and you are being prejudiced." Percy lectured. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I think Ron has a point. It's just like the Order; it's mostly filled with your generation now. The Doom Soldiers have taken over from Death Eaters - their kids would certainly want revenge on you three. And there would definitely be enough Death Eater children to form an army, along with some others." Arthur reasoned.

"Exactly, thank you Dad, think about it. Bellatrix's _son_ is leading an army, it could only be an army build of other sons and daughters of Death Eaters, even the names are similar." Ron said, convinced he was right.

"I agree with Ron." Hermione said.

"So do I, it's so obvious now and it has taken us weeks to figure this out," Harry groaned.

"But how does this help us?" Lee asked impatiently.

"Haven't you ever heard the phrase "know your enemy" deprived from_Sun Tzu's The Art of War_?" Hermione asked, Harry though she couldn't resist having a book reference for everything.

Lee was about the open his mouth to retort but Harry interrupted him,

"I have a plan."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

_A/N: __Thanks to my beta OliWest, this may be the last chapter that I update for a week or two since I am going on holidays next week but I will try and get an update done soon._

Ron's POV

Ron walked into the kitchen and sat down at the small table, Harry and Hermione were already sat down looking over a folder but they both looked up when he sat down.

"You're late, you should have been down here half an hour ago." Hermione said, throwing him an annoyed look.

Ron opened his mouth to retort, planning on pointing out that he had no one to wake him up this morning so his lateness was obviously her fault but Harry held up a hand.

"Let's not start fighting today, please, we need to get to Malfoy's soon, Hannah, Ernie and Justin will be back later and I want to talk to them," Harry said.

Ah, Malfoy. Harry's great plan. They were going to talk to Malfoy, not to mention trust whatever crap comes out of his mouth. Ron honestly couldn't believe that Malfoy was supposed to be their secret weapon to stop Lestrange. Harry actually thought that Malfoy is going to help them, and Hermione agreed. So he, Ron, was outnumbered and now he had to waste his day talking to the ferret.

"Or, we could just stay here and skip going to Malfoy's" Ron muttered quietly, but not quietly enough apparently because Hermione glared at him over the folder. "So what are you reading?" he asked, hoping to make amends.

"Malfoy's file, did you know that he became a healer?"

"Well, he would have wanted a job that made him look like he is reformed and is not a Death Eater." Ron shot back. "Or a Doom Soldier for that matter."

"Guys, we can't keep having this argument, Ron, I know that you don't trust Malfoy and Hermione, I know that you think he has changed. Either of you could be right but I think that he will have valuable information if Hermione's right and, if Ron's right, then we could probably arrest him." Harry growled, pissed off and stressed out.

"Fine, but if he is a Doom Soldier, can I be the one to throw him in Azkaban?" Ron begged, hopefully he would actually get the chance to.

Hermione glared at him again, but her lips twitched. Harry looked very amused too, fighting back laughter, but he was determined that today be taken seriously.

"So where does his lordship-of-all-ferretness live?" Ron asked.

Hermione looked down at the file in her hand before answering, "He lives in Dartford, it's close enough to London, I suppose."

"So how are we going to go about this then?" Ron asked, he didn't think that walking up to Malfoy and asking him if he is a Doom Soldier was a good idea.

Hermione and Harry exchanged an extremely irritated look and Ron wondered what he did wrong this time, honestly, those two were always getting their knickers in a twist one way or another.

"Well Ron, that is why you should have bothered your arse to come down here half an hour ago because then you would know the plan." Hermione said, smiling sweetly (but definitely falsely) at him.

Ron gulped; maybe it was his fault.

"Anyway, we decided to tell Malfoy that it is a formal interview and if he won't co-operate then he will be arrested." Harry said.

"Can we actually do that?"

"Not technically, since this isn't an auror case but he won't know that."

"Pity," Ron mumbled.

"And Ron, since this is a formal interview you have to treat it like one, no trying to hex him or anything, ok?" Hermione said condescendingly, well two could play at that game.

"Yes,_dear,_" he smirked; she couldn't stand pet names.

Hermione's head shot up, she was turning purple and looked as if smoke was about to come out her ears (like one of those muggle _cartoons_ things he once watched on her box thingy) and Ron wondered why she was so grumpy this morning but he wisely decided not to ask that right now.

Before Hermione could respond to his snide comment, the door to the kitchen opened and George and Robert entered.

"Morning all," George called cheerfully; Ron wanted to bang his head off the table at that annoyingly happy tone. George went to help himself to food while Robert kissed Hermione on the cheek.

"Good morning sweetheart, boys." He said, nodding at Ron and Harry.

"Where's mum?" Hermione asked.

"She is having some kind of girl chat with Molly apparently, I was told to leave them alone." Everyone laughed at this, as Robert continued, "I think I will go and find Arthur, you three look busy.

George shot a wicked grin in Hermione's direction and Ron knew what was coming, it seemed that annoying Hermione was his latest hobby.

"I think you take after your charming mother, Hermy," George said with a smirk, Ron rolled his eyes. It seemed that George was on a mission to get himself killed; especially of he continued to call her that horrible name.

"And why is that George?" Hermione said with forced calmness, it was a good thing that George wasn't looking at her, instead he was playing absentmindedly with his food, because Ron was sure that George die with the simmering look she was giving him at the moment.

"You are both extremely bossy."

Well that wasn't too bad, even Hermione knew that she could be bossy.

"Whatever." Hermione muttered - she looked surprised that George could not come up with anything more original than calling her bossy.

"Of course some guys are into that I suppose," George grinned; oh they should have known that he wasn't finished, "You know, it would turn them on. Ickle Ronniekins in particular seemed to enjoy that kind of thing-."

There it was. Ron groaned loudly with his ears turning red, this time he really did bang his head off the table, while Harry stared at George in shock, with a completely disgusted look on his face at what George had implied. Hermione, however, remained calm and continued to stare at George like they were having a perfectly normal conversation, determined not to give him a reaction. Unfortunately Ron knew this would only encourage his brother.

"-Why it must have been pure _torture_-"

George stopped speaking abruptly when a sob echoed through the room at his words, Ron took a large intake of air - did he really just say that? Hermione's cool demeanour vanished as she rushed out of the room,

"What did I say? I was only joking." George said, looking genuinely confused, Ron could have hit him.

Harry groaned, "George, you need to choose your words better."

"What do you…oh…shit…I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to say that." George sighed, putting his face in his hands.

"I know you didn't, mate, I don't know what's wrong with her, she hasn't seemed herself all morning," Harry said, looking concerned.

"She hasn't?" Ron asked, he had noticed that she seemed really short tempered but he assumed that was his fault.

"No, she hasn't and it's not like her to get so annoyed over a slip of words is it?"

"No, but it was a really bad slip. I can't believe that I am stupid enough to say that." George swallowed.

"It will be ok, George. I'm going to find her." Ron said, patting George's shoulder on the way past. Ron briefly noted that George must actually be angry with himself if he didn't make a comment about Ron following Hermione.

Ron found Hermione sitting on the stairs, she was leaning her head against her knees, when she heard him approach her she wiped furiously at her eyes, probably trying to hide the tears that he already saw.

"It was a slip of words, he didn't mean it." Ron told her as he sat down next to her.

"I know that he didn't mean it like that, but I just can't seem to forget it all Ron," she whispered quietly. Ron nodded and placed his arm around her shoulder, which she willingly leaned into. He knew that something else was bothering her but he wouldn't push her, it never ended well for him when he did.

They were quiet for a long time, Ron was slightly worried that someone would come down the stairs and find them like this but he didn't care too much, comforting Hermione was more important at the moment.

"I've been having nightmares."

Her voice was so quiet that he had to strain to hear it, and yet he knew exactly what she has said. Ron sighed; he had suspected that this was going to happen sooner or later. He knew Hermione very well, probably better than anyone else knew her, and he knew how she dealt with her problems. Hermione makes sure that everyone else is ok first; she puts up a front of being "fine" so that no one worries about her, or feels that she needs help. Then, she would get awful nightmares because she simply couldn't hide all of her fears from her subconscious. Ron had noticed it after the war, he had always been ashamed that it took him weeks to discover that there was something wrong because he had been so preoccupied with his own issues over Fred and he didn't realize that Hermione was still struggling with the events of the war, while helping him through his troubles. It happened about 3 weeks after the final battle, he was at home in the Burrow lying in bed when he was awoken by screams, heart-wrenching screams that he recognised far too well. He had jumped out of bed, with Harry hot on his heels, and raced into his sister's room. He had feared an attack, Death Eaters invading his home but nothing prepared him for the sight that he found. His whole family had reached the room before him and Harry, a disadvantage of having the attic room, and they were crowded round his girlfriend, of 3 weeks, bed. Hermione was thrashing about in the bed, sweating with tears streaming down her face, pulling at her hair and screaming at the top of her voice. He had knelt down beside her and talked to her, he tried absolutely everything to get her to wake up but nothing worked, no one could wake her. Not him, not Harry, not Ginny and not even George screaming in her ear. It was unnerving and worrying. Half an hour later, they had been on the verge of calling a healer when her screams died down and she sat there, simply sobbing but awake, at last. That was the start of an awful period of nightmares she had, mostly from Malfoy Manor.

Ron had recognised the signs over the last few days, she was becoming more and more tired. She was stressed and sensitive, like with George's comment. When she had been spending nights in his room, before her parents came, he had noticed that she never seemed like she was having a restful sleep but, thankfully, it was not like that night they had found her at the Burrow. Hermione had told him once, when they started dating, that having him with her made her feel safe and mostly stopped the nightmares, as she did for him. It was obvious now that her nightmares were worse over the last few nights when she was alone.

Ron wrapped his arm around Hermione and pulled her towards him

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her softly.

"I didn't want to worry anyone, there is more important things than my nightmares, Ron" Hermione told him.

"Not to me."

Hermione smiled up at him and pulled his head towards hers, Ron melted into the kiss as his lips crashed against hers. God, he loved this. They broke apart after a few minutes, both of them looking round to check that they were still alone, both relaxing slightly when they realized that they were.

"You know, everyone is going to find out about this eventually," Hermione said, smiling slightly.

Ron made a face, "Well, I am not looking forward to that. Could you imagine the reactions? George will be awful, I mean I love you and everything but-"

Ron stopped speaking abruptly, realizing what he had just said. They hadn't said that to each other yet, well not in years anyway. It was certainly true, but would Hermione think that it was too soon? Hermione looked up at him,

"You do?"

Ron gulped and felt his ears turn red, why was he in Gryffindor again? The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"Of course I do."

For a second Ron considered taking back what he said but relaxed when he seen Hermione smile, the first truly genuine smile he saw from her all morning.

"I love you too, Ron."

Happiness exploded inside him and before he knew it they were kissing like a couple of teenagers again, breaking apart quickly when they heard footsteps above them.

"We should go back to Harry," Hermione muttered, standing up. Ron followed her but when they reached the kitchen door, he reached out and grabbed her elbow and turned her to face him.

"If you have a nightmare, just come and find me, ok? You don't have to be alone and you don't have to have a silencing charm up either." He told her.

Ron could see her annoyance that he knew what she had been doing, not to mention her reluctance to agree but whatever she saw in his face stopped her from giving the hateful retort she had no doubt wanted to give.

"Fine, I will." Hermione answered, very reluctantly.

He nodded, relived and was about to go back into the kitchen when she pulled him back, with a dangerous smirk on her face, she leant up and whispered in his ear,

"By the way, the silencing charm in my room was already up from before the nightmares."

Ron's jaw dropped but she was already inside the kitchen again so he followed her.

"Hey guys, you ok?" Harry asked as they entered, looking suspicious of Ron's red ears and Hermione's grin.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Listen Hermione, I am so sorry for what said, I didn't think and-"George said, speaking sincerely but Hermione cut him off.

"Don't worry George, I was over-reacting, it's fine," she smiled warmly at him. Ron finally sat down in the seat beside Harry, about to resume their planning but it seemed George had other ideas, he had completely returned to himself now that Hermione was ok.

"So, you two were gone for a long time…"

"Seen Mrs Norris recently George?" Ron snapped, irritated by his brother. Unfortunately, the reminder of George's embarrassing story didn't wipe the smirk off his brother's face.

"Please, as if you would ever have the nerve to actually tell someone that story."

"Oh, dear brother, I am simply waiting for the right moment." Ron laughed, in a very good mood after his conversation with Hermione. George frowned and threw a bit of toast at Ron.

"So childish brother."

"Yes, aren't they both?" Hermione said to Harry, who nodded amusedly. In unison, Ron and George stuck their tongues out at the Boy-Who-Lived and the "Smartest Witch of her Age".

oo00OO00oo

"So, this is Malfoy's?" Ron asked, staring at the house before him. It was medium sized, it looked smart and sophisticated and yet Ron couldn't believe that Malfoy lived here. It just didn't seem nearly as flashy and show-offy enough.

"Yes, for the fifth time." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It just doesn't seem very Malfoyish, you know?"

"Ron's right," Harry said, Ron shot Hermione a triumphant look, "It doesn't strike me as something Malfoy would like; it's much too ordinary."

"Well maybe his wife doesn't like the flashy things." Hermione suggested.

Ron whipped his head round to stare at her,

"Wife? No way! Who would marry him?" Ron demanded - the prospect of Malfoy married just didn't seem right.

"Ron, I told you this last year when he got married." Harry said.

"I would have remembered that," Ron exclaimed.

"I would have thought so but obviously not, you were pissed though." Harry stated smugly.

Hermione was speaking before Ron could answer.

"Ok, calm down boys-"

"We're men!" Harry and Ron protested, but she ignored them.

"-we should knock now." Hermione finished, already at the door.

It took a few minutes for anyone to answer, but when they did they did not open the door.

"Who is there?" The drawling voice of Draco Malfoy demanded, from behind the door. Ron frowned; it didn't take years of Auror training to realize that something was wrong here.

"Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." Hermione answered immediately, in a commanding and clear voice.

The door opened quickly and the trio found themselves face to face with their old school nemesis. He had changed very little in seven years, his hair was longer, he was a little fatter and he looked older, obviously. And although he was snarling at them already, his eyes no longer held extreme hatred, maybe just extreme dislike.

"What on earth do you want?"

"We have a few questions for you Mr Malfoy." Harry stated professionally, in the tone that all Aurors had when they were trying to show authority and respect at the same time.

"What questions? And why do you think I would waste my time answering you, Potty?" Malfoy snarled.

"Because, if you don't you will be on your way to Azkaban for refusing to co-operate with an Auror investigation." Ron snapped.

"Ah, Weasel and mu-Granger at your side, as always. Well, make this quick I have somewhere to be." Malfoy said, opening the door and leading them into the living room. The trio sat down on a sofa while Malfoy sat opposite them in an armchair.

"What do you know about Benjamin Lestrange?" Harry asked

"I don't know anything of Lestrange, is he a relative of Aunty Bella?" Malfoy sneered; Ron abandoned any hope of this being successful.

"He's your cousin, actually, you know the one who is terrorising the ministry right now." Ron said, in a hostile manner. "So we want to know anything that you can tell us about him."

"So, a new Dark Lord rises and instantly you think of me, I'm flattered."

"Malfoy, I am aware that you do not like us but this is important. Lestrange could destroy absolutely everything. He could ruin our world and, at the moment, he certainly has enough resources to do just that. Please help us." Hermione said.

"You three really do think highly of yourselves, don't you? Tell me, Granger, what makes you think that I would even consider helping you? What would be in it for me?"

Malfoy didn't wait for an answer as he continued his rant.

"I have nothing to tell you, anyway. And I for one wouldn't mind too much if Lestrange succeeded in his wishes, do we really need all of the "Golden Trio?""

Ron was about to leave, he had known all along that this was stupid. Malfoy was useless and clueless. He had stood up before Malfoy had finished talking but what Malfoy had just sat made him turn around and sit back down, he exchanged a look with Harry and it was clear that his friend had also picked up on Malfoy's words.

"No you don't." Hermione said, before either Ron or Harry could say anything.

"Excuse me Granger?"

"I said, you don't hope that he succeeds. You are not the same stupid little boy that joined the Death Eaters and backed out, are you? Did you know that we visited your parents?" Hermione asked.

"So?"

"They told us that you don't talk to them anymore, that you refuse to visit them in their cell. You've changed; you don't believe what you grew up hearing anymore Malfoy. That's why you won't visit your parents, that's why you don't live in Malfoy Manor and that's why you are going to help us." Hermione concluded calmly.

Malfoy scowled at her, "I have nothing to tell you."

"Then I suppose we could bring you into the ministry for questioning." Ron snapped, sick of Malfoy pretending that he knew nothing.

"On what account, Weasel?"

"On the account that you seem to know what Lestrange's aims are, that doesn't exactly make you seem innocent, now does it?" Harry said.

Before Malfoy could react there was a knock at the door. Malfoy suddenly became very pale, his eyes glancing nervously towards the door. He walked across the room to the window, where he pulled back the curtains; Ron frowned until he realized that Malfoy could probably see who was at the door from the window. The action confused him because it lacked any of his enemy's old arrogance.

"Crap," Malfoy muttered before turning back to the confused trio, "I need you to hide, go in that door over there. You will likely be able to hear the conversation and it may help you somehow, but you can't be seen or heard."

Ron was about to object to being bossed around but it was clear that Malfoy was actually scared, another knock distracted Ron, he decided to listen to the ferret and followed his friends through the door while Malfoy went to answer the front door.

It was a closet that the trio found, it was quite small but they could still fit in easily enough. Malfoy had already come back into the room with his guests but Ron could only hear faint muttering. Thankfully Harry had come prepared and passed an Extendable Ear to Ron, who quickly pushed it under the door.

"…too long Draco"

"Hmm, maybe. What are you doing here Greg?" Draco said, Ron turned and looked at the other two in shock, Gregory Goyle, really?

"Can't I stop by and speak to an old friend?" Goyle said, Ron bit back a laugh at his voice. It was actually quite high pitched, surprising considering the size of him.

"We both know that's not the reason you are here."

"Very well, let's get down to business. I have come to ensure that you have made a decision Draco."

"I told you my decision months ago, when you first came here. I see no reason for you to continue to visit me Greg." Malfoy said. Ron had a good idea of what this talk was about now, figures that Goyle would be a Doom Soldier.

"Maybe I should have made myself clear Draco, I came to ensure that you made the correct decision." Goyle said, Ron had to admit that he was no longer the blithering idiot from his school days. There seemed to be a role reversal between Malfoy and Goyle.

"I don't want to join, I have no interest in becoming a Doom Soldier." Draco sneered.

Ron looked over at the other two. It was time to make a decision, they could arrest Goyle now (if he confirmed that he was a Doom Soldier) or they could leave it and listen to the rest of the conversation, which may be more valuable to them. Ron held up a hand to show that he thought they should wait and the other two nodded.

"Pity, I thought that you would want to avenge Vince. Obviously you didn't give two shits about him. How's Astoria?"

The trio frowned at the sudden subject change of subject, a bad feeling settling in their stomachs.

"She is quite well, however that is irrelevant." Malfoy said stiffly.

"I heard that she is expecting. Congratulations Draco, you're going to be a father, eh?" Goyle smirked,

"How the hell do you know that?" Draco shouted, sounding furious.

"We have our sources, it would be a real pity if anything was to happen to your wife, wouldn't it?" Goyle threatened.

Ron was in shock, this guy was supposed to be Malfoy's best friend since they were 11 years old and he just threatened to harm his wife and unborn child? It was disgusting and appalling; Malfoy seemed to paying for all the years that he underestimated Goyle.

"I will come back in a few days, I hope that you will be more sympathetic to our aims Draco. It would be a shame to have to destroy our friendship."

The trio sat still for a while, they could hear Goyle show himself out and they waited a few minutes before coming back into the room. They found Malfoy sat down at the sofa, his head in his hands and shaking slightly.

"What am I going to do? I don't want to help them anymore, you were right," Malfoy stammered, "But I won't let anything happen to Tori. What can I do?"

A strategic move was forming in Ron's head, it was risky and dangerous but it may be just what the Order needed to take down Lestrange. It was no doubt a very Slytherin approach but it certainly had merits, they could destroy the Doom Soldiers from the inside out.

"You could become a spy."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

_Author's Note: __Sorry it took so long but I have finally finished this chapter, I have also finished Chapter 25 so it should be updated tonight or tomorrow too (hopefully that will make up for the long wait). So this story is nearly finished! I am currently writing chapter 26, I think that there will be around 30 chapters, maybe a bit more, and an epilogue. Please review if you get a chance because they honestly motivate me to write faster. Thanks so much to my beta__** OliWest**__ too._

Hermione's POV

Hermione sighed with exhaustion when she, Harry and Ron finally stepped through the front door of Grimmauld Place, completely drained.

It had taken them much longer than they anticipated interviewing Malfoy, considering the fact that Goyle had shown up. They must have been in that little room eavesdropping in the men's conversation for at least 40 minutes, something that was not at all comfortable. Then there was the further two hours spent at Malfoy's home when Ron suggested his plan.

Well, that was something that Hermione never saw coming, Ron asking Malfoy for help. Although, to be perfectly honest, it was more like he demanded Malfoy's help.

_*Flashback*_

"_Are you joking?" Malfoy snarled, much more like the boy they knew at school than the person they had discovered today._

"_I hardly think this is a joking matter, do you?" Ron shot back; clearly the reappearance of the old Malfoy triggered the end of Ron's patience._

"_Really, you are as stupid as you look, Weasel, and that is saying something. There is nothing, on this earth, that could ever convince me to help you."_

_The room had settled into an uncomfortable silence, with both the trio and Draco deep in thought. Hermione considered Ron's plan. It would really be an amazing benefit to the Order if they had a spy, considering their main problem was that Lestrange seemed to be untraceable, but she didn't know if they could trust Malfoy. She couldn't understand why Ron would even consider this plan, since he hated Malfoy more than her and Harry put together, not to mention the fact that just this morning he wanted to arrest Malfoy, not ask for his help._

"_You are going to help us Malfoy." Ron spat suddenly._

"_Ron, you can't actually force-" Harry began tiredly, obviously worried that Ron would do something stupid but Hermione knew better. She knew Ron better, he wouldn't ever suggest this unless he thought there was a solid reason for Malfoy to help them, and not sell them out. Ron was in Auror mode, he had a strategy and a plan but Hermione just couldn't work out what it was._

"_I am not going to; I just want him to consider my offer from a different angle, other than his self-centred one."_

"_And what would that angle be?" Malfoy demanded, a cocky smirk on his face, "I will consider any angle that you want but it won't change my mind on this."_

"_Consider, Malfoy, that the Doom Soldiers carry out their threat. Consider that they do something to harm your wife, or your unborn child, and then think of how you will feel knowing that you had a chance to save them." Ron said, despite his harsh words Ron actually looked like he pitied Malfoy's predicament, not that that would stop him from getting his desired outcome._

_Malfoy face visibly paled, he looked like he was about to be sick, yet his eyes hardened and defiance swam in them._

"_There are other ways to protect Astoria."_

"_Like what?" Ron demanded, "Actually join the Doom Soldiers? Who do you think will be the first person we arrest Malfoy, after what we heard today about Goyle's offer, when your wife is perfectly fine and yet you have not been helping the light side? Don't you think that it would be a little obvious, to us three, that you changed your mind?_

"_We could hide, until it's all over." Malfoy said, yet his confidence was slowly diminishing._

"_Hide?" Ron gave a mirthless laugh, "Malfoy you are not that naïve, we are talking about the person who broke into the Ministry of Magic twice."_

"_That's not exactly impressive, I mean you three managed to break into the ministry twice when you were just idiotic teens." Malfoy laughed._

_Hermione's blood boiled at his indifference, his arrogance. How dare Malfoy make out that Lestrange was some minor threat, after the 8 ministry workers he murdered, after what he done to Percy, after what she herself had to go through for nearly two weeks at Lestrange's hands? After he destroyed her family home and killed her grandfather? How dare he?_

"_What about everything else?" Hermione sneered at him, blinded by his fury. "Have you forgotten that he managed to break into my home, without alerting anyone? You have no idea the kinds of wards that I had on that flat, every single protective enchantment ever made and a few new ones, Malfoy and he destroyed them. Or what about the murders he committed, hmm? The ministry workers? My grandfather?_

_Ron and Harry shot her sympathetic looks, probably wishing that she didn't have to bring that up, but Hermione stayed focused on Malfoy. He kept her gaze, and for the first time in her life, Malfoy did not look like he hated her. Merely dislike, mixed with…pity?_

"_So that was true, you were captured?" He asked her, as if his answer depended on what she said next._

_Hermione gulped._

"_Yes, but that is not what we are discussing that at the moment." She said, determined to change to subject._

_Malfoy took a deep breath, looking at Ron with extreme reluctance,_

"_Well, what exactly are you suggesting? And how would you protect my wife?"_

_*End of Flashback*_

Draco Malfoy had decided to become a spy for the Order, just like Severus Snape. They had agreed that if Draco helped them, the Order would protect his wife Astoria. She was going to be sent to a safe house, much like Lavender's, and someone from the Order would guard her until the mess was over. Malfoy was planning on saying that she was simply staying with her parents to prepare for their child. It would not matter to the Doom Soldiers where she was anyway, since Malfoy was going to join them. Malfoy would communicate with the DA coins that Hermione created in fifth year, altered slightly to carry messages. They would not get any information for at least 3 or 4 days since Goyle had given Malfoy time to think through his decision and even then, it would likely take a very long time for Malfoy to gain enough status for him to receive valuable information.

Ginny appeared in the hall, relief etched across her face.

"Oh thank Merlin, you're back. I was beginning to get worried." Ginny smiled, giving Harry a quick kiss, "James has been looking for you all day, and he's in the large sleeping area with all the other children."

"Ok, I'll go and see him soon. I need to talk with these two for a minute," Harry replied, "You coming?"

"No, I am helping Mum with lunch. With over 100 people here, she needs all the help she can get." Ginny laughed.

"I'll come and help soon the," Hermione said, she was feeling guilty that she never really helped around here.

Immediately Ron and Harry made faces at her suggestion, and Hermione glared at them.

"What?" She demanded.

"They are laughing because letting you cook is dangerous." Ginny teased, grinning mischievously.

Hermione jaw dropped, affronted, as Ginny walked away from them.

"I am not that bad!" She exclaimed indignantly.

"Yes, you are." Harry grinned.

"But, it's ok," Ron smiled, as he draped his arm around her and led them into the nearest room, "We love you anyway."

The trio settled down in the armchairs, about to discuss the latest revelations at Malfoy's home and there next move, when the door flew open again, with Neville stumbling through it,

"Hey guys, can I have a word?"

"Sure Neville, how you doing mate?" Harry asked pleasantly.

"Oh I'm fine, weird doing all this again right?" Neville smiled, although a little sadly.

"Yeah, but who else would?" Ron said.

"Only you three, no one else causes so much trouble," Neville teased them, while the trio rolled their eyes.

It had become quite a joke among the Order, it seemed that the minute the trio set foot in Hogwarts the Order was needed again, some of the Older members liked to remind them that there was never so much to do before Harry, Ron and Hermione started causing trouble. Hermione had initially been shocked to hear everyone joking about the War but she supposed that if they didn't laugh, they'd cry. Literally. She was quite accustomed to the way most of the Order made light of any situation by now.

"Ha ha," She said to Neville, who smirked at her, "So what is it you wanted to talk about?"

It seemed that Neville had something important to say because his face became serious and business-like immediately. Sometimes Hermione struggled to remember that this strong, confident and determined man was the same scared, whimpering and shy little boy that she met on the train to Hogwarts. Neville was the first person that she had talked to in her year, he was also the only person who didn't immediately hate her or make fun of her - Hermione would always be extremely fond of Neville because of this.

The trio, following Neville's example, sat up straight and leaned in.

"Well, while you were out, Hannah sent a patronus. She said that they had run into some trouble, and that they would not be home today." Neville said. Hermione smiled slightly as she saw the concern in Neville's eyes for his wife and her friends.

"Do you know when they are going to be back?"

"Or what trouble they ran into?"

"No, I'm sorry," Neville sighed, "She said that they are Ok, but that it would take them longer than anticipated. I think I am going to check if Frank is Ok."

Neville walked out of the room. Hermione gave a deep sigh. She had been hoping that Hannah, Ernie and Justin would be home by now; they needed to know the results of the mission but it didn't seem to be going well. The Order needed more people; they were outnumbered right now, by a lot. Their only hope of surviving this battle was to have reinforcements. It was a solution that Hermione had always wondered why it was never reached during the first and second wars, but she supposed that other countries wouldn't have been as aware as they are now of how dangerous one man can be. The Second War had really opened the eyes of witches and wizards around the world, hence Orders being set up in nearly every country. Hermione really hated to admit it but they were out of their depth at the moment, if they did not receive the help from other countries, they could not hope to beat Lestrange, even with a spy. The simple fact was that the numbers were not high enough.

Then there was the fact that they might not even have a spy, Malfoy was still considering their offer. Honestly, as if it was something to consider.

"Could anything else possibly go wrong?" Ron groaned. The other two laughed, grimly.

"I still can't believe that our best hope is Malfoy, who would have seen the day?" Harry said.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen." said Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes while Harry chuckled.

Oo00OO00oo

Hermione smiled when she found her mother, she was in the big play room that was set up for all of the children. Jean Granger was currently tickling Victoire Weasley, who was giggling hysterically, Victoire certainly loved getting attention, once her mum noticed her however she stepped away from Victoire and came over to her,

"Hello darling, I didn't know that you were back."

"We've only been back half an hour actually, I was coming to tell you Molly was looking everywhere for you," Hermione said.

"Ok then, I'll find her soon. I want to talk to you dear, it's seems like it's been ages since we had a proper conversation, how've you been, really. It must be horrid dealing with all of this?"

Hermione smiled, it felt amazing to have her mother here. She had always been able to confide in her, so naturally. She was always easy to be truthful to her mum, and yet she never got embarrassed about what she was going to say, her mum was one of the very few people who would listen to anything and never judge. Although that didn't mean that she would worry her mother, not after everything that she was going through right now

"I'm fine-"

"You don't look fine dear," her mum said, concern etched into her eyes, "Have you been sleeping well?"

"Not really, but who could be sleeping with all this?" Hermione answered, somewhat honestly.

"I suppose,"

Her mum trailed off and Hermione looked up, a smirk was quickly spread across her face and her eyes twinkled mischievously,

"I'm sure that you would sleep better if that dashing Tim was here, wouldn't you? Then again maybe you wouldn't be doing much sleep."

Hermione blushed slightly but still laughed, her mother seemed to have no idea that until she and her Dad arrived Hermione had been in exactly that position, only with Ron and not Tim.

"Hate to break it to you mum, but we broke up." Hermione said after a few minutes of silence.

"Oh? Why?" her mum raised an eyebrow.

"He, um, wanted to get married."

For the first time since the start of the conversation her mother seemed shocked.

"Really? I didn't think that you knew each other that long."

"We didn't, 8 months." Hermione answered, glad that someone else seemed to think this was too soon to get married.

"Hmm, I quite liked him. Although if you don't want to get married, it's your choice. You should have seen your grandfather's face when I told him I was getting married, he nearly strangled your father." Her mum's eyes shined reminiscently.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears at the mention of her grandfather, the guilt and hurt she felt about his death still extremely raw. She couldn't deal with it; before she knew what she was doing she started whispering,

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry mum. I k-know that it's all my f-fault that he's…d-dead, I'm s-sorry."

Her mother looked up, surprise and anger in her features. She placed her hands on both sides of Hermione's face and forced Hermione to meet her eyes,

"Don't you ever, ever, apologize for that or think that it was your fault. It was that horrible, horrible man who killed him, not you." Her mother stated firmly.

Hermione was about to retort that he had only gone after her Granddad because of her when someone came rushing into the room,

"Hermione, there you are." Ron exclaimed, "Oh, hello Mrs Granger."

Hermione smirked at Ron's way of addressing her mother, when they were dating years ago Ron had always been completely comfortably around her parents, always calling them by their first names. It seemed that Ron wanted to remain more respectful of her parents now, considering the last few years, he obviously thought that they wouldn't like him anymore. He needed have bothered.

"Ronald! Call me Jean, none of this Mrs Granger nonsense." She smiled at him warmly. "How have you been? I've missed you coming around."

Hermione threw a glare at her mother. Honestly, did the woman have any sense of loyalty? This was the man that had broken her daughter's heart and she was telling him how much she missed him? I mean sure, they were back together and Hermione was at fault too, but still.

"I'm fine, Jean, and of course I missed you too." Ron said, with a wink.

Hermione rolled her eyes when her mum blushed. Yes, her mother certainly preferred Ron; there was no doubt about it.

"Did you want something, Ron?" Hermione said impatiently, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh, oh yes. I need to show you something, come on."

Hermione threw her mother an apologetic glance and rushed off after Ron.

oo00OO00oo

_Abandoned by Our "Heroes"!_

_By Rita Skeeter_

_As the Wizarding world is once again launched into turmoil, we must ask ourselves - where are our supposed heroes? The saviours of our world? The people that are supposed to defend us against the evil that lurks around every corner?_

_I, Rita Skeeter-stunningly pretty reporter, will tell you where. They are gone. Simply gone. They have run out on us in our time of need. Abandoned us. They took are now in hiding, cowering away from the, now infamous but unnamed, Ministry Attacker. They have left us, allowed 8 people to be killed while they save themselves._

_The mess started when the ministry was first attacked, on January 4th, and has continued until now. Ron Weasley (handsome yet dim side-kick) and Harry Potter (mentally disturbed hero) themselves are supposedly in charge if the investigation of the attacks, however it is claimed that Aurors have yet to come across a single lead in this investigation._

_The plot thickened when Hermione Granger, a rather demanding and controlling woman, became involved in saving the ministry with Potter and Weasley. Granger is the best friend and ex-girlfriend of both Harry Potter and Ron Weasley; she is one third of the Golden Trio and the Heroine of the Wizarding world. The Golden Trio had collapsed after the break-up of Weasley and Granger, however it seemed that they had reconciled to help the Wizarding world, after four years of no communication._

_Then dear readers, yours truly brought you the scandalous exclusive about Granger's secret relationship with Tim Hargles, but would Granger's reconciliation with Weasley be the end of her latest relationship? We will get to that later, because the next part of the tale was the tragic kidnapping of Miss Granger. It still remains a mystery how she was found, over a week later, Aurors say they hadn't anything to do with it, yet Potter and Weasley were at the hospital with Granger when she was admitted after her ordeal. That certainly seems suspicious, particularly so when her boyfriend wasn't informed about her rescue until nearly 24 hours later._

_The ministry was once again under attack shortly after Granger's rescue. 8 ministry workers were killed in the battle that day, yet the only people that actually laid eyes on the mysterious attacker were the Golden Trio, and what did they do? They vanished, closing up any loose ends that they may have had. For example, all of their family and friends vanished the same day, and yet we are supposed to believe that these are the bravest people in our world? No one has seen neither head nor tail of the Golden Trio since, while our world once again dissolves into darkness where are our heroes?_

_Not accepting this I, being the dedicated and determined reporter I am, decided to speak to the one clue actually left behind. Tim Hargles. I asked of his relationship with the not-so-charming Miss Granger and I was informed that they had broken up, however I was unsurprised considering Granger's long list of boyfriends that she moved on from pretty fast. I asked the helpful and delightful Tim was the downfall of his relationship anything to do with a certain Mr Weasley and he told me that it was "everything" to do with it. Tim said, "I lost Hermione the minute Ron Weasley walked back into her life again." This is just more proof of Granger's ruthlessness, ditching her committed, handsome and lovely boyfriend for Mr Weasley_

_With this interesting turn of events in mind I am forced to conclude that the Golden Trio has abandoned us, left us to deal with their problems while Granger and Weasley ran off into the sunset together. The Ministry Attacker sent me a statement declaring that he would leave us alone, as soon as the Golden Trio are held responsible for their actions and I for one am beginning to agree. Why should we defend and protect those that have continued to cause our world nothing but trouble?_

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! THAT COW!"

Hermione was seething. That evil, manipulative, annoying little bug! How dare that horrid woman print that ridiculous article? Uh, if there was one person that just irritated the hell out of her it was Rita Skeeter.

"I know." Ron said with a grimace. "As if we haven't got enough to deal with right now."

Hermione nodded, pinching her nose to try and get rid of the headache that was quickly coming on. Harry, Ron, Ginny, George, Angelina and her were sitting in one of the living rooms. Kingsley had dropped in briefly while the trio were out and delivered the Daily Prophet.

"What I don't understand," said Angelina, "is why Kingsley let this be printed. It's basically saying that everyone should hand you over to be killed! It's outrageous!"

Harry sighed, "When Kingsley became Minister, certain laws were in place so that the minister couldn't have the type of power that they had been getting in recent years, since it caused so much trouble. Kingsley doesn't have any control over the press, and the press have no control over Rita."

"It's awful," Ginny said, looking pretty angry, "The whole article was just blaming you three for whatever Lestrange has done."

"Yes, but at least she called me handsome." Ron said, Hermione laughed with everyone else. Some of the tension leaving the room.

"Yes, Ron but we have already established that Rita gets her facts mixed up," George grinned.

"Not nice," Ron snarled at him.

"Yes, well Ron's handsomeness aside, how is Rita even able to print this stuff Hermione?" Harry asked.

Hermione knew that he was implying about she had blackmailed Rita so that she would not print anymore lies about them. Hermione hadn't been able to keep up the blackmail, it was something that she was against and it wouldn't feel right to blackmail Rita Skeeter anymore, it was different when she was in school and the whole world was against Harry, then she had been standing up for her friend but it wouldn't be fair now. She was starting to regret that decision.

"We, um, decided to terminate our previous agreement."

There was absolutely no way Hermione was going to tell George about her blackmailing Rita Skeeter.

Harry groaned and placed his head in his hands; Ron looked quite disappointed as well but seemed determined not to show it,

"It's not so bad, I suppose. I mean it's not like she mentioned that were all gathered here, trying to build an army. This could work to our advantage, you know - the element of surprise and all that." He said, smiling reassuringly at Hermione, who had to smile back at how sweet he was.

"Yes, it certainly could've been worse, I can't wait to see her eating her words whenever the "Golden Trio" save the world again" Ginny grinned.

Everyone laughed, deciding that this wasn't actually the most pressing matter that they had to deal with. Hermione pulled the article over to herself, reading over it again. She frowned when she got to the part about Tim, did he really talk to Skeeter or did she make up what she wrote. Hermione supposed that she couldn't blame him if he did talk to Rita Skeeter, after what she done to him, but she didn't really like that Tim implied the reason they broke up was completely Ron's fault.

"I have to say Hermione, I love how you are portrayed in this article." George began, disturbing Hermione's thoughts, "Ex-girlfriend of _both_ Harry and Ron, ditching one guy as soon as another comes back in the scene and then running into the sunset with Ron. Not to mention that you are a "demanding and controlling woman", what did you do to Skeeter?"

The trio looked at each other and laughed, remembering the discovery of the bug. This seemed to wind George up; there was nothing he hated more than being left out of something funny.

"I hate when they have their inside jokes, I never get them." George grumbled. Angelina patted his arm consolingly, while rolling her eyes.

"Don't worry George, being the "Chosen One's" wife does have its advantages, I know what most of their inside jokes mean." Ginny winked.

"Whatever, at least Rita gives us some valuable information." George said.

"And what information is that?" Hermione asked impatiently, starting to get sick of George's ramblings.

"We know that obviously Ron isn't that hopeless, he stopped you from getting married Hermy!"

Hermione resisted the urge to punch him, with some difficulty.

"Don't call me Hermy." She replied calmly, despite the fact that she was starting to get seriously annoyed.

"I think-"

"George, SHUT UP!" Ron interrupted.

"Oooh, does ickle Ronniekins have a problem with me teasing Hermy?"

"_SILENCIO!" _Hermione said, pointing her wand at George. A look of shock formed on his face as he couldn't get any words out.

"Sorry George, but I have a headache." She said sweetly.

oo00OO00oo

_Her eyes stung as they tried to adjust to the bright light. The hands released her and she fell onto the floor brutally. Through her squinted eyes she could make out that there were 5 "Doom Soldiers" in the room, along with Lestrange. Hermione gathered all the strength and hatred she could muster to glare at him. He was unfazed by the daggers that she was throwing at him, and just smiled at her pleasantly, as if she was an old friend. It made her skin crawl._

_"Miss Granger, I was wondering if you would be more accommodating today?" he asked in a cold, deep voice. Hermione looked up at him and gathered her courage. She spat at him and laughed darkly,_

_"Never," she swore. His eyes flashed dangerously for a moment and Hermione knew that his patience was wearing thin but he tried to compose himself._

_"Very well, we will do this the hard way," he spoke in an adrenaline filled voice. Hermione just stared at him defiantly, no matter how painful what he was about to do was, she would never help him. Lestrange nodded to the Doom Soldiers in the room, they all pointed their wands at Hermione, waiting for the next signal. She was terrified now and shaking with fear of what was to come. She closed her eyes tightly as Lestrange nodded once more._

_"CRUCIO!" was echoed throughout the room. Hermione let out a blood-curling scream as the combined force of the spells hit her. She was in agony, it felt as if they were ripping her apart limb by limb but so much worse, she couldn't stop the screams that came out of her mouth, as she pleaded desperately for them to stop._

_"WHERE IS THE HEADQUATERS OF THE ORDER OF THE PHONEIX?" Lestrange bellowed at her, "CRUCIO!" The curse hit her again before she had a chance to speak, tears pounded down her face but she would not answer him, never would she betray everyone like that._

_"ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!" Suddenly it was Bellatrix before her, Benjamin having vanished._

_Hermione screamed and screamed, she rolled back and forth on the ground as the never-ending agony took hold of every inch of her. Her body was convulsing dangerously now and she knew that this would be the end, she simply couldn't hold on any longer. The fatigue was taking over her, she wanted it to end. If she died it would all be over, she hoped she would die soon._

_The pain ended as quickly as it had come, and yet her body was still in agony._

_Bellatrix was pulling out a knife, a knife that Hermione would witness anywhere, a knife that could inflict more pain than the Cruciatus curse, a knife that left scars that would never, ever, fade._

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Hermione jerked up right, her breathing deep and scared. _It was just a dream _she told herself. A sob escaped her lips at the thought of the dream. She could feel the sweat dripping off her body, and she was still shaking. She really hated these dreams, or memories, in many ways they are worse than the actual torture, because she can never escape from them.

They left her edgy, grumpy and vulnerable. She really hated being vulnerable, it was everything she was against to be so weak that these dreams destroyed her. Hermione sometimes found it so easy to understand why people lost their minds after suffering from the Cruciatus curse, if the actual torture wasn't enough to make a person lose their grip on reality then the after-affects definitely were. It was just like last time, once she actually got rid of the pain that came with the curse, then the mental torture started, she briefly wondered if the nightmares were part of the curse or if it was her own over-active imagination.

Desperate to receive some comfort, and to get some sleep tonight, Hermione put on her dressing gown and quickly left her room. She tip toed across the hall, careful not to wake anyone else up, and opened the door to Ron's room.

She smiled at the sight before her, Ron was lying in his bed, in a deep sleep and snoring lightly, He had a peaceful and content look on his face, Hermione considered leaving him to sleep but before she could turn around and go back to her room he was already sitting up in his bed.

"Hermione?" His voice was still filled with sleep.

"Sorry for waking you, I just…c-couldn't sleep." She whispered.

A look of understanding flickered across Ron's face, and he seemed fully awake now.

"No, no it's fine. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." She laughed, a small tear coming down her cheek.

Ron got up from the bed and enveloped her in a hug. He began to stroke her hair softly. The action comforted her a great deal, as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. They stood like that for a long time, eventually Hermione's breathing began to even out and she stopped shaking. Ron really was the best thing to calm her down, she thought.

"Come on," Ron said, stepping away from her and tugging at her arm.

"What?"

"You can stay in here tonight."

Hermione smiled softly as she lay down beside him. Wrapping her arms around his torso, while she used his chest as a pillow.

Ron kissed her hair as she finally let the fatigue take over her body, her eyelids already drifting heavily shut.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

_Author's Note: __So two chapters in a day, definitely a first for me ;) This chapter was the most fun for me to write, out of all the chapter of my story. The whole chapter is based on one event and I didn't mean to spend so much time on it, but once I started writing it I couldn't stop. I also really, really enjoyed writing in George's POV (although I don't think I got it right), so here it is and please leave a review since I want to know what you think, especially since this was my favourite chapter. _

George's POV

George lifted his son, as quietly as he could, out of the make-shift cot that was set up for the twins. Fred was already awake of course, even this early in the morning. He definitely took after his father and uncle. George crept out of the room with his son, leaving his wife to sleep a little but longer.

"Ok Freddy," he whispered when they were safely out of the room, "Do you want to get some breakfast?"

Freddy clapped his hands enthusiastically and George had to smile - his son really was quite cute.

"Yup! I want pancakes!" Freddy exclaimed.

"Ok, ok we'll get pancakes. Hopefully mum made some."

Once they finally reached the kitchen, George was surprised to see that no one else was up. George figured it must have been really earlier for not one person to be up. In the last few days whenever he had come down for breakfast there had already been about 50 people up. It was not a pleasant experience trying to get some food when 50 others wanted some too. It reminded George of being back in Hogwarts, except they didn't have house elves to get the food for them anymore. Not that George ever really made food, but still.

George quickly transfigured some bread into pancakes for Freddy.

"Here you are son," George said, watching anxiously to make sure the pancake was edible, he didn't think Angelina would be too pleased if he poisoned their son. George let out a sigh of relief when Freddy eat the pancake happily. Thank God for that.

He smiled to himself thinking that he would never have to go through the bother of actually cooking pancakes again, it seemed his children had something of an addiction with them.

George heard footsteps beginning to make their way to the kitchen, a lot of footsteps, so he quickly scooped his son up.

"Now Freddy, I've gotten you a pancake so you have to let me go back to sleep, ok?" George said, already rushing out of the kitchen.

He really didn't want to be there for the stampede to the food, which was already running low. Honestly, living in a house with over 50 little kids in it was not his idea of fun. When he had joined the Order, he pictured getting exciting and dangerous missions, the only mission he had been on recently was babysitting in a way too over-packed house.

The house was ridiculously over-populated. The only people that had rooms were the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, the Potters and a few others. Luna was sharing a room with Parvati and Padma, while Ernie, Justin, Dean and Dennis also had a room to share. Somehow Ron and Hermione ended up with their own room each, probably an advantage to being in charge. Everyone else was sleeping in the drawing room, it had been magically expanded of course and beds were set up for everyone, but still there wasn't room to spare, anywhere. The house was just so cramped, even George found it a little claustrophobic having such a crowd around but what could they do? It was either stay here, or go home and rick being captured, tortured or killed. The main problem with staying here was that there was never anything to do, the trio were working on some top secret plan and barely came out of the meeting room, except for meals. George was bored, he had nothing to do all day and he really missed going to work, no doubt the shop was falling apart right now.

"Dada, I don't wanna go to sweeep," Freddy said, in his whining voice.

George ignored his son and began carrying him up the stairs, he sighed when he realized that he would not be able to go back to sleep unless Freddy co-operated. The two of them reached the floor with Hermione, Ron, Luna, Parvati, Padma, Dean, Ernie, Dennis, and Justin's rooms on it. He was about to continue up the next flight of stairs when inspiration hit him.

"Freddy, you don't have to go back to sleep. How about I take you into Uncle Ron's?" George said michieviously, but hey - it was an uncle's duty to look after their nieces and nephews after all.

"Yay! Uncle Won! Uncle Won!" Freddy shouted.

Ron was Freddy's favourite uncle; there was no doubt about it. George had always supposed that it was because Ron was the most childlike of his brothers (apart from himself and Fred, obviously), although it was also due to the fact that Ron was the only brother that didn't already have a family, so he was always willing to babysit or play with the kids. Charlie didn't have a family of his own either, but he was always at work in Romania and whenever he did come home he spent most of his time at Shell Cottage, since him and Bill had always been close.

"Yes, I'm sure Uncle Ron will be delighted to see you at 8:30 in the morning." George grinned.

He quickly rushed over to Ron's door and stepped into his room, it was unbelievably messy, something that George's room hadn't been since Angelina had moved in.

"Uncle Won! Uncle Won! Uncle Won!" Freddy called. There was movement in the bed, but Ron hadn't decided to wake up yet.

"Oh no Freddy, you will have to try harder than that to wake Uncle Ron. OH RONNEKINS WAKE-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

George was cut off by the scream. His jaw dropped when he looked at the figure sitting up in the bed, his brother beside her, dressed in nothing but the bed sheets,

"GEORGE! Get out!" Ron growled at him, but George was just too shocked to move, although he dimly registered footsteps above him.

He pointed at her and then Ron,

"But…I don't understand…Hermione…you...again?" he stammered.

Hermione was completely red, and began to pull the bedcovers more firmly around herself, this seemed to remind Ron that Hermione (not to mention himself) was naked in his bed, so he placed himself in front of her.

"Uncle Won, why Hermy in your bed?"

George really did have to admire his son's timing.

"GEORGE GET OUT RIGHT NOW!"

"Oh my God, I can't believe this is happening," Hermione moaned.

George slowly began to grin as he took in what he was seeing.

"Wow…I didn't know you had it in you."

Hermione groaned loudly and hid herself behind Ron's back, who was looking absolutely furious at the moment.

Freddy seemed to be tired of getting ignored and walked over to Ron.

"I wawnt you to pway wiv me, uncle Won!"

"Not now mate."

"Come over to Daddy, Freddy. You shouldn't be seeing this kind of thing, should he Ron?"

"Oh, shove off." Ron snapped.

"GEORGE, GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW OR I PROMISE I WILL KILL YOU!" Hermione screeched.

George only grinned, this was perfect. Hilarious actually.

"Now, now Hermy, you should be nice or I may have to inform someone of what I have found here today."

"_George_!" They both shouted at him.

George was about to retort but suddenly the door burst open again. Everything seemed to move in slow motion from that moment on.

His parents, Hermione's parents, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Bill, Charlie, Audrey, Dean, Luna, James, Victoire and Teddy had all run into the room. George watched in supressed laughter as the anger on Ron and Hermione's faces faded into extreme mortification.

"We heard…raised v-voices," His mother stammered, her hand on her heart.

Audrey began rushing the children out of the room, muttering something about "immaturity" and "inappropriate sights."

Neville, Dean, Bill and Charlie left just as quickly, looking extremely uncomfortable and quite embarrassed. Although Charlie did say something that sounded suspiciously like "Atta boy Ronnie."

"I cannot believe this is happening," Hermione whimpered.

"I knew that those Wrackspurts had been causing problems," Luna said, as if her creatures explained the presence of Hermione in his brother's bed.

"Yes, it must have been the Wrackspurts," Ginny said wryly, Harry grinned at her.

Ron shot the pair of them an angry look, clearly telling them all to get out. But George had noticed a slightly more alarming sight. Robert was turning purple, a vein popping out of his forehead, his mouth was moving and yet he couldn't seem to get any words to come out, Jean was patting his arm consolingly. It seemed that George's own mother couldn't take the silence anymore.

"I really hope I am hallucinating right now," she fumed, looking absolutely outraged at the two in the bed.

"Now, now Molly dear, I think we should-"

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY DAUGHTER!" Robert exploded, he was advancing on Ron.

George shared a look with Ginny, Harry and Luna and quickly made their way to the door, grabbing Freddy on his way.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU RONALD WEASLEY!"

"Daddy, calm down," Hermione pleaded. George didn't think he had ever seen someone so embarrassed.

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!"

"Mr Granger, I'm really sorry but…AHHHHHH!"

Ron dived out of the way, just as Robert's fist was about to collide with Ron's face.

"Let's go." George said, running out of the room.

oo00OO00oo

George was sitting in the kitchen with Harry, Neville, Dean, Dennis, Charlie, Percy and Bill. They were talking about this morning's very interesting events.

"I can't believe it, I really can't." Bill said, shaking his head.

Percy nodded in agreement.

"You can't be serious? You're actually surprised about this?" Neville demanded, laughing.

"Yes!" Percy said, "It wasn't exactly obvious."

"It was the most obvious thing in the world, come on, did any of you really think that _Lavender_ and Ron were going to last?" Dean snorted.

"Oh no, I knew that was ridiculous, I just never thought that they would do the whole secretive thing. I thought it would be obvious when they were actually back together, you know? I thought I would be able to tell. Now I'm not so sure, Merlin only knows how long that has been going on." Charlie said.

"Actually it's been going on for about a month." Harry informed them.

"What?"

"A month?"

"You knew?"

Neville rolled his eyes, "We should've known that you would know."

"I've only known since Wednesday," Harry said.

"But it's Monday now! I can't believe you betrayed me like this Harry, have you any idea what I could have done with that information?" George said, still slightly annoyed that everyone had heard the argument he got into with the newest couple this morning, it would have been excellent blackmail material.

Everyone ignored him. They seemed to do that way too much.

"How did you find out, Harry?" asked Percy.

"Uh, the, um, Veritaserum Trials," Harry said with a grimace.

"What, you asked one of them if they were together?" Dennis asked, confused. George was confused too, his trial had only taken about 15 minutes until the Veritaserum ran out (thank God) but he didn't think that Harry would ask that question.

"Not exactly," Harry sighed, "When we were questioning Lavender, we asked her why she would betray the Order-"

"Oh." Bill said, he obviously understood something that the rest didn't.

"-and Lavender said that she had seen them kissing and wanted to get even." Harry finished.

"So Ron cheated on Lavender, with Hermione?" Charlie asked frowning.

George knew what he was thinking, sure they had all really hated Lavender and wanted Ron and Hermione to get back together but they were raised a certain way and they did not approve of cheating. No matter how annoying Lavender was.

"No, no, no! Of course not!" Harry said, looking aghast, "Lavender was just jealous that Ron was spending so much time looking for Hermione so she told Lestrange about the plan to trick him."

"She was jealous because Ron was looking for his friend, who had been kidnapped?" Dennis said.

"Poor Seamus, he's in for it with that one." Dean smirked.

"So how did that tell you that Ron and Hermione were back together?" Neville asked.

"Oh it gets interesting here," Harry smiled, "At your birthday party George-"

"I can't believe it all happened on my birthday, and I didn't even know." George exclaimed.

"Yes well, all I know is that Lavender seen them snogging, which is why she went to Lestrange again." Harry said, "That is what she told us, so that was how I found out."

"Well, that must have been awkward." Charlie said, and they all laughed.

"You have no idea." Harry grinned.

"So how did you take that Harry? You must have been delighted, I've had to listen to you complain for years that those two need to wise up." Said Neville, quite cheerfully.

Harry blushed.

"Me and Ron actually got into a fight over it all."

"No way," Dennis gasped.

"Yeah, it was stupid."

"So did anyone else know about the two of them?" Bill asked

"No, not as far as I know." Harry said.

"I just can't believe that the two of them have been back together for a month," said Charlie.

George nodded, he knew that they were perfect for each other, soul mates even, and they really had been through so much together. More than any of them, except Harry, could really imagine but he just got used to them being apart. In the first year of their break-up he wouldn't have been surprised, at any stage, if they had gotten back together but it had been four years now. He had always thought they were too prideful to admit they were wrong, not to mention the fact that they were stubborn enough to go through four years of not talking just to see if the other one would make a move.

"I don't see why they got back together now, of all times." Percy said, shaking his head.

"Maybe it was because they started talking again?" Dean said doubtfully.

The room lapsed into silence; everyone seemed to be pondering the question. George didn't really know what to think. Ron and Hermione were a very complex couple, and yet quite easy to understand. It wouldn't have surprised George if, to Ron and Hermione, getting back together just seemed like the only option once they both became single again.

"Did you hear Robert, Ron is in for it." George said after a long few minutes of silence.

Bill grinned.

"Oh yes, he certainly is. Trust me, if I ever catch anyone with Victoire and Dominique, I would kill them."

They all laughed.

"And you can just tell that Hermione is a Daddy's Girl, can't you?" Dean smirked.

"Definitely," Neville agreed.

"I do not envy Ron anyway." Harry chuckled.

"Well, it is his own fault that he is in this situation-"

The door to the kitchen was suddenly thrown open with so much force that it was nearly knocked off its hinges.

"Oh hello Ronniekins." George grinned.

The grin was wiped off his face a few seconds later when Ron whacked the back of his head with a surprising amount of force.

"Ouch...what the hell? What's wrong with you?" George said bemusedly.

"You, George, are a fucking asshole." Ron said venomously.

"Wow now Ronnie, calm down." Charlie said, George could tell he was trying to hide his smirk.

"Yeah, so what's got your knickers in a twist?" Dean asked, while everyone began sniggering.

"Oh shut up, the lot of you." Ron groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Honestly George why couldn't you just leave? I told you to get out, this whole thing is your fault and what the hell were you doing in my room anyway?"

"Actually Ron, the people at fault here are you and Hermione. Ever heard of a locking charm?" George shot back, "And I was in my room so that you would look after my kid, I was not prepared for the sight I got. I am going to have to take Freddy to a mind healer, and I will give you the bill!"

Ron glared at him for a moment, and then placed his head in his hands again.

"So…what happened?" Bill asked cautiously.

"I think you all know what happened." Ron muttered.

"Well, we all know that you have been going at it with Herms, for a month might I add-"

"Well done by the way, she's hot." Dennis said, clapping Ron on the back.

Ron looked like he was going to punch him, so George continued,

"-but we don't know what happened after you were caught." George informed him.

Ron groaned again.

"What it that bad?" Percy asked, looking very amused.

"Yes." Came the blunt reply.

"Well, a problem shared and all that…" Neville hinted.

"You lot are so nosy."

"Come on Ron, tell us how they took it." Harry said.

"How who took it?"

"Our mum, her dad?" George said, pointing out the obvious.

"Oooh," he began sarcastically and angrily, "Well basically Robert is plotting ways to kill me right now, he already tried the whole punching thing a couple of times and went into a rant about never going near his "little girl" ever again."

"Really? He punched you?" Neville asked, looking interested.

"Yes, he broke my bloody nose."

"Doesn't look broke." George pointed out critically.

Ron gave him a withering look.

"Really? I hadn't noticed. Obviously Dad fixed it for me."

"What did mum say?" asked Charlie carefully.

Ron gave a humourless laugh.

"Oh, she is never going to talk to either of us again."

"What? I thought she wanted you two to get back together?" Harry said, looking completely confused.

"Sure she did, but she went into a lecture on waiting until we were married and the proper way to behave. How we have _absolutely no respect_ for our parents."

"What? Did she think that you hadn't been doing that 4 years ago?" George blurted out incredulously; honestly Ron and Hermione were 25 years old and were living together before they broke up.

"Yes but back then she had no proof so she could always deny it, right?" Bill said reasonably.

"No proof? You have to be kidding, I must have caught them two at it at least 20 times," George said, performing an exaggerated shudder to portray how awful those memories were.

"Shut up George."

The room was once again silent. George pondered all that he had discovered today in all honestly, although he would never admit it, he was really happy and proud of his brother. George had seen how sad and miserable Ron had been these last few years with Hermione and he was delighted that Ron won her back. He actually thought of Hermione like another younger sister, she was part of the Weasley family long before she was dating Ron, and he had really missed having her around to tease and make fun of.

"So how's Hermione?" Dean asked Ron, with a wicked grin.

Ron gave another dark laugh.

"Yeah, she's not speaking to me either."

"So that's what you're really annoyed at." George said triumphantly.

"No, I'm pretty sure that I'm annoyed with you actually."

"So why isn't Hermione speaking to you?" Bill asked him

"Something about never being able to look her father in the eyes again," Ron rolled his eyes, "And somehow that is my fault."

"Of course it is," Bill laughed, "Don't worry though; Fleur said the same thing to me."

"Well I think you got what you deserved Ronald," Percy said snottily, "It is not good to keep secrets."

George looked at him, a little annoyed at his older brother. There was no need to antagonise Ron about his choice right now. Sure George teases him mercilessly but he would never reprimand him like Percy had just done. Ron was a grown up now, not their little brother that needed told off when he made a mistake. It was with these thoughts that he said his next works,

"Says the man that eloped and told us two weeks later."

Percy turned red as laughter rang throughout the table. They were all laughing at Percy so much that George had not noticed someone enter the room until she was already speaking.

"Ron, can I talk to you please?" Hermione asked.

George started a round of catcalls, enjoying seeing Hermione's face go red - whether from embarrassment or annoyance he didn't know.

"Shut up guys!" Ron moaned

"How are you this morning Hermy?" George asked, "I was just telling the guys that you will be receiving the bill for the mind healers."

"What on earth are you talking about George? And stop calling me that ridiculous name." Hermione said impatiently.

"I suggest you drop the name George, she really will hex you." Harry said to him but George waved him off.

"Anyway, as I was saying, my poor little Freddy was traumatized after what he seen. He kept wondering why neither of you were wearing pyjamas."

Hermione turned scarlet, muttering something unintelligible before stalking out the door angrily. Ron got up from his chair and followed her.

"George, all you do is cause me trouble.

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

"Hey, are you ok?" Ron asked her, as soon as they were out the door.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," she said to him, "Listen I'm really sorry for earlier it wasn't your fault."

Ron smiled fondly at her.

"Don't worry about it."

He opened his arms and she walked over to him quickly. She pulled his head down to her and their lips met. The kiss deepened quickly and Hermione felt her heart was going to burst. She loved kissing Ron, every time she kissed him it seemed to get better.

They broke away as a couple of children came out into the hall to play.

"So how's your Dad?" Ron asked her.

Hermione laughed.

"He's fine, not your biggest fan at the moment, but he's fine."

Ron looked like he was about to reply but just then his mother came down the stairs; she regarded them calmly for a moment. They were still quite close to each other, their heads pressed together, but Hermione was quite glad that they were no longer kissing; they had been caught in quite enough comprising positions for one day.

"Oh, there you two are. Well Hermione, Ginny was looking for you. I think she wants some help with James and Ronald, I think you could go and find something useful for you to do, couldn't you?" She said frostily.

She stalked off towards to the kitchen without saying another word to them.

"And speaking of someone who isn't my biggest fan." Ron said lightly.

Hermione smiled, "Don't worry; she doesn't seem too fond of me at the moment either."

"Yes, but it's still my fault. Apparently, it was completely my fault that we ended up in that situation."

"She said that?"

"Oh yes, something along the lines of _Hermione is such a respectful girl, you have corrupted her_."

Hermione chuckled softly. "Easy for you to laugh, it's me that's getting sent daggers by everyone; my own parents don't even take my side."

"HERMIONE!" Ginny screeched from above them.

"I better go, what are you going to do?"

"Spend the say avoiding your father." He muttered. She smiled warmly at him.

"See you later then, and good luck with that."

Ron kissed her cheek, then she rushed up the stairs to Ginny and Harry's room. She was quite surprised when she entered to find there was not only Ginny but Luna, Fleur, Angelina and Audrey all gathered in the room.

Hermione didn't have time to voice her confusion before Ginny came flying at her, hugging her tightly.

"OH MERLIN!" She screamed, "You have to tell me everything, I am so happy that you're back together! How did it happen? When did it happen? Was it after Malfoy's?

"Ginny!" Hermione complained, "I thought you wanted help with James."

"Don't be ridiculous, this is more important right now."

Hermione rolled her eyes; she was never one for a girl talk, no matter how much she adored Ginny.

"Come on Hermione, I think we all want to know." Angelina said.

"Yeah, I want to know what the hell happened this morning, I woke up to screaming and yelling." Audrey said.

"Oh George told me that he found them in naked in bed with each other." Angelina informed her.

"I always knew that you and Ronald would get back together.

Hermione shut her eyes, willing to believe that this was not happening and they had not called her here to discuss her relationship with Ron. Unfortunately, she did not get her wish.

"How did you get back together?" Fleur asked.

Hermione sighed; she may as well answer now.

"We got back together at George's birthday party."

Silence greeted her revelation and Hermione realized that everyone had thought she and Ron had only recently got back together.

"A month?" Ginny said, her face flushed with indignation, "You have been back with my brother for a month and didn't tell me?"

"Sorry Ginny, we didn't want to tell anyone," Hermione said apologetically.

"So no one knew?" Luna asked.

"Well Harry knew, Lavender told him." She answered uncomfortably.

"Why that little traitor-"

A knock at the door disrupted Ginny comment, who was clearly annoyed that Harry had not told her this gossip.

"Come in," Ginny called.

Parvati entered the room quietly,

"Hey, sorry for interrupting but there is going to be an Order meeting now."

"Why?" asked Audrey worriedly.

"Ernie, Hannah and Justin have just gotten back."

Hermione let out a sigh of relief; at least she could get away from this interrogation.

"We're coming."

_**Review please!**_


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Author's Note: Thanks to _**OliWest**_ for beta-ing this story

Harry's POV

Harry tapped the table impatiently, waiting for everyone to arrive at the Order meeting. It would be a week tomorrow that the Order arrived at Grimmauld Place; this thought calmed him down a little because it seemed like much longer. Harry had a fear that they were not working quick enough, he supposed it was simple because he didn't want another war to break out; he wanted Lestrange dealt with as soon as possible. After today's meeting they would know for sure how well-equipped they were to deal with Lestrange, they would know their final number of fighters and they would know if they were going to receive any additional help.

The room quickly started to fill up more. Hannah, Ernie and Justin's friends, and some family members, were the first in. Harry embraced the three, all of whom he had not seen in a few days.

George, Dean, Dennis, Bill, Charlie, Percy and Neville had come in with Harry, when Hannah, Ernie and Justin had just come back. Harry smiled slightly at the sight of Neville and Hannah; they looked absolutely delighted to be reunited again. Mr and Mrs Weasley quickly rushed in and set a few seats down from Harry, with the Grangers coming close behind them and sitting across from Molly and Arthur on the other side of the table. Nearly everyone had arrived by this stage.

Ron came rushing into the meeting a few minutes later. He was making his way over to his seat beside Harry when he seemed to notice the Grangers, he looked a little nervous as he sat down next to his Dad, leaving a seat in-between himself and Harry for Hermione to take. _When she decides to show up_ Harry thought to himself.

Harry leant over to whisper to Ron,

"You know, I was starting to think that you and Hermione got side-tracked again."

Ron shot him a glare.

"Shut up Harry."

Hermione, Fleur, Angelina, Audrey, Luna and Ginny (along with Parvati who went to fetch them) finally came down and completed the meeting. Ginny went to sit on the other side of her parents, much to Harry's disappointment, but she winked at him as she passed.

"Nice of you to join us," Harry muttered to Hermione as she took her seat.

"What were you all doing?" Molly asked her stiffly. Harry was shocked to see that Ron wasn't actually exaggerating, Molly was actually really angry at Ron and Hermione.

For some reason, Hermione blushed before answering. Something that was not unnoticed by her father, who shot Ron another dirty look.

"I was just talking with Ginny and everyone."

Harry smirked, yes he believed that. Ginny, as much as he loved her, was a complete gossip. She loved getting new pieces of news, and Ron and Hermione getting back together wold have Ginny in her element.

"Ok," Ron said, taking charge, "Let's start the meeting. Hannah, Ernie and Justin have been traveling to a few select countries to see if any of the other Orders are willing to help us. Can you give us your report?"

"Yes," Justin said, "We managed to come in contact with France, America, Spain, Canada and China."

"Why those specific countries?" asked Audrey.

"Because the Orders in those countries are sister ones to ours," explained Ernie, "After the war, those countries contacted us and asked us to help them set up Orders, so that of something like the second war happened in their countries then they would be more prepared."

"When did all this happen?" Padma asked.

"Kingsley arranged it all a few months after the war, when the other countries were being briefed on what happened, they asked if they could get some tips on how to set up their own Orders, in case something like this ever happened to them." Hermione said.

"Really?"

"Yes, that is basically what happened," Ernie continued, "The most important thing about the other countries setting up their own version of the Order of the Phoenix was that every country agreed that they would become allies if something ever came up."

"So they have to help us." Dean observed.

"What does this mean then? Will we get weapons and technology and stuff from them?" Dennis inquired excitedly.

Harry had to laugh at the faces of the pure-bloods in the room. It seemed that they did not look at having an ally the same way that muggles, or muggle-borns like Dennis did.

"No," Ernie said, "the agreement was that the actual people in the Orders would assist each other."

"Brilliant!" Lee exclaimed, "So we are going to have piles of people to help us!"

Harry personally agreed; if Ernie and his friends had succeeded in their mission it would mean that the Order would finally have an advantage over Lestrange and his Doom Soldiers.

"Not quite," Hannah winced, "While we were away we ran into some difficulties."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked sharply, as the good spirits in the room plummeted.

"They're not going to help us?" Ron demanded.

"Well, they can't," Justin said. "It turns out that Lestrange has timed his attack very well. The other countries actually already have their hands full with their own problems."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"I mean, that we aren't the only place that has been suffering with attacks. There seem to be Doom Soldiers causing trouble in the countries we visited. I think that Lestrange knew that we would try and call in reinforcements."

There was silence as everyone absorbed this information. It dawned on Harry that Lestrange had them completely trapped. They were all stuck here in this house, while he was wreaking havoc everywhere, they couldn't go to work and the Rita article didn't help their public image either. Their only hope, apart from Malfoy but Harry really didn't want to count him as a hope, was to get help but Lestrange had even thought of that.

"How could he have known about the agreement though?" Percy asked.

"It was all made completely official," Hermione began, "There are reports filed in my department about the Order agreement. It was so that no one could opt out if the agreement, it was made official and legal."

"So, when Davidson was spying on the Auror department for Lestrange, he could have gotten that information?" Ron asked her.

"Who was Davidson?" said Robert.

"He was an Auror that allowed Lestrange in the department." Harry answered, frowning at the memory.

"Yes Ron, it could have been him but the information was never hidden so he could have gotten it anywhere." Hermione said.

"This is a mess."

"So why can't they help us exactly?" Bill questioned.

"The countries that have signed this agreement have been struggling with muggle attacks, as much as 6 or 7 mass muggle killings a day, by Doom Soldiers." Justin said.

"Wow, that's a lot."

"It is - the Orders are busy trying to protect muggles and catch as many Doom Soldiers as possible."

"So there must be even more Doo, Soldiers than we thought." Harry frowned, the scale of these attacks was hard to imagine and there would certainly need to be a lot of Doom Soldiers available at Lestrange disposal for them to continue.

"Well a lot of Death Eaters had children." Ron reminded him.

"Yes, so anyway, the Orders themselves are very busy but they are eager to follow our agreement, and they want us to as well." Ernie said.

"What do you mean?"

"The whole Orders cannot come and bail us out but they are willing to allow volunteers to come here and help us, they will supply as with around 30 volunteers each." Justin smiled.

Cheers erupted throughout the table, led by George of course. Harry allowed himself a relieved grin, one that he exchanged with his two best friends. Finally! A bit of good news.

"This is brilliant!"

"Our numbers will be massive."

"Lestrange won't expect that."

"QUIET!" Hermione shouted - everyone obeyed her at once.

"Right, so there are 5 countries and if each country can spare 30 then that leaves us with…150 extra. That combined with the 40 of us, and the Auror department, will bring us up to about 250 fighters." Ron strategized.

"I though the Auror department weren't going to be involved." George said.

"Well, they couldn't be involved in the investigation because we still aren't sure if there are anymore traitors, but there is nothing stopping us from contacting them the morning that we are going to ambush Lestrange, hopefully, and just bringing them with us for numbers." Ron said.

"Good idea," Harry agreed, "If we can get to Lestrange then we will just make sure that no Auror has the chance to tell anyone about it."

"Wait!" Neville interrupted, his eyes narrowing suspiciously, "How are you so sure that we will be able to ambush Lestrange, I thought you had no idea where he is."

The trio exchanged looks; they had yet to tell anyone about the possibility of Malfoy helping them. But Harry thought they had a right to know where they are going to get their information, it would also be good to get everyone else's opinion on the matter. A small nod from Hermione and Ron indicated that they thought it would be good to tell the others too.

"Well, yesterday when we went to see Malfoy, we discovered that Lestrange wanted him to join the Doom Soldiers, but he didn't want to-"

"Ha! Malfoy not want to kill us?" Dean snorted; everyone seemed to agree with him.

"Actually, he doesn't," Hermione intervened, "He is now a healer, and married to Astoria Greengrass, they are expecting a baby-"

Gasps echoed across the room.

"That was my reaction to Malfoy reproducing too," Ron grinned wryly.

"But, Gregory Goyle paid him a visit while we were there," Hermione continued, ignoring her boyfriend, "and threatened his wife, saying that she would be harmed of her did not join, and gave him a few days to think over his offer."

"NO WAY!" George exclaimed, obviously catching on, "Hermy, Malfoy is not a house elf that need protecting, he got himself into this mess himself. I don't think it is one of your best ideas to try and help him, even worse that Spew actually."

Hermione gave him a glare worthy of the ferret they were discussing. Harry really had to admire George's bravery, Hermione was already pissed off at George for catching her and Ron this morning and now he decided to insult Spew, he didn't seem to value his life at all. And that nickname was really beginning to push her over the edge; she looked positively frightening right now.

"Actually George, helping Malfoy was my idea." Ron said quickly, sensing danger.

This information was shocking enough for the whole room to turn away from George and Hermione and stare, open-mouthed, at Ron.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD _YOU_ DO THAT?"

"Because, dear brother, if you used your brain you would realize that we have Malfoy right where we want him. If we are protecting his wife, then he owes us. Now how did we manage to defeat Voldemort?" Ron said, staring at George.

"Because Harry beat him!"

"Obviously, but who was pulling the strings?"

"Dumbledore." George answered, looking like he thought his brother had lost it.

"NO! You are not getting it. Think George. Who was there all along? Who was able to outsmart Voldemort? To trick everyone? Who was able to manipulate the outcome of the war?"

Everyone became silent at Ron's impassioned speech. It seemed that no one had any idea what Ron was talking about, and didn't that itself prove how much this person had been pulling the strings.

"Snape." Neville said calmly.

The Order members looked a bucket of water had been poured over them, as they all let out an exclamation of "oh."

"Yes Neville, finally. He was a spy; he took down Voldemort from the inside. He was able to pass valuable information onto the Order while being Voldemort's right hand man."

"So you want Malfoy to be a spy?" Bill asked sceptically.

Ron looked doubtful of himself and his idea at his brother's words; some insecurities cold never really fade.

"Of course," Hermione said, "It's a brilliant idea. Malfoy would have to help us if we are protecting his wife, he really has changed and he doesn't, deep down, want to live in a world where someone like Lestrange will be in charge. I think it's genius."

Ron shot her a small smile, which she returned, before they turned back to everyone else.

"I agree, it's a very good plan, a spy is exactly what we need." Ginny said.

"Yes, we must fight fire with fire." Luna said absent-mindedly.

Murmurs of agreement were passed amongst the Order members.

"When do we know if Malfoy accepted then?"

"I would say sometime today, since Goyle will probably come back tomorrow." Harry said, he glanced at the clock and noticed that it was around lunchtime, he tried not to get too nervous since there was still plenty of time for Malfoy to decide to help them.

"So when are the volunteers going to come?" asked Arthur.

"Well, we said that we would contact them when need them because we are crowded enough as it is. We arranged Portkeys to take them here - they are all on alert so all we have to do his send a patronus when we need them." Hannah said.

"Good idea," Harry nodded, Grimmauld Place really couldn't handle any more people.

"If Mr Malfoy can eventually give us Lestrange's location, then I will allow those that aren't going to fight, like the children and non-order members to come to Hogwarts." McGonagall offered.

"Thank you Minerva, that will be very helpful." Hermione said.

oo00OO00oo

Harry had never sat at a more awkward meal; it was honestly the most uncomfortable atmosphere at a table anywhere. Harry was beside Ginny at one of the massive tables, Ron and Hermione sat across from them. Molly and Arthur were beside Harry, to his left, and across from them were Robert and Jean, on Hermione's right. George and Angelina beside Ron, and Luna was beside Ginny.

While the parents were quietly conversing with one another, they seemed to be keeping a close eye on Ron and Hermione, as if they were going to start anything at the lunch table for Merlin's sake, and Molly and Robert were glaring at them quite frequently. George, on the other hand, seemed to be doing everything possible to bring up this morning events and embarrass Ron and Hermione, Ginny and Angelina had decided to help George in his attempts while Luna sat completely clueless.

"Could you pass the salt, Gin?" Harry asked, hoping to diffuse some tension.

"No," Ginny replied frostily. Oh yes, another awkward factor at the table was that Ginny seemed pissed off at Harry.

"Did I do something?" Harry asked her, feeling very confused but he had been putting his wife's behaviour down to pregnancy hormones.

"Oh, I don't know, did you? Maybe you should ask Ron and Hermione if you are allowed to even talk to me." She fumed.

All of the table's inhabitants seemed to look up.

"What?" Harry asked, completely lost.

"Well you know that you can't tell me anything without their permission!"

Harry actually became very thankful that it was only the eleven of them still eating lunch.

"What on earth are you talking about Gin?"

"I am referring to the fact that you knew them two were screwing each other again and you didn't tell me."

Harry stared at her, open-mouthed in shock.

"Oh for God's sake," Hermione scowled angrily, throwing down her fork and crossing her arms. "Can we not drop this topic please?

George laughed gleefully, apparently in his element.

"You tell him Ginny!" he exclaimed.

"Come on Gin, grow up, it was nothing to do with me."

"I am your wife Harry! And you still don't tell me what happens with the bloody _Golden Trio_ do you?"

"Oh shut up Ginny, he didn't tell you because we told him it was a secret and you have a big mouth." Ron shot at her, "It has nothing to do with your marriage."

"Don't you start Ronald; I have not forgiven you for your secret keeping either." Ginny spat at him.

Ron rolled his eyes.

"Well, I quite agree with your sister Ronald, you listen too Hermione, we would have been happy for you, there was no need for deceiving everyone." Molly huffed.

Ron opened his mouth to speak but George beat him to it,

"You see mum, they probably lied so that they could continue having sleep-over without anyone noticing."

Molly seemed to be turning red with outrage, taking George's words as the truth apparently.

"Shut up George, that was nothing to do with anything," Hermione muttered, though her cheeks were turning pink.

"I just can't believe that no one told me!" Ginny wailed, "Have you forgotten, Hermione, that it was me who helped with the whole Tim thing and gave you advice, advice that probably led to you two getting back together."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Ginny, and then you told absolutely everyone about it all." Hermione said.

"Face it Gin, secret keeping isn't your strong suit," Harry laughed.

She scowled at him more. Harry smiled to himself, thinking that she was quite adorable when she was annoyed. He leant over and kissed her cheek,

"But I don't mind." He whispered in her ear. She pushed him away but Harry could tell she was trying to hide her smile.

"So, Hermy," George began.

"I'm going for a lie down," Hermione said, standing up very quickly.

"You going to join her Ron?" George asked causally.

"He better not be." Robert barked, glaring at Ron who did indeed look like he would like to escape this table with Hermione.

Hermione threw a laughing George the dirtiest of looks before storming off.

"So, when's the wedding Ronniekins? You can't continue to live in sin after all."

The tips of Ron's ears went red, though her still threw a murderous look at his brother.

"That is an excellent point George." Molly agreed.

"A wedding would be lovely," Jean smiled softly.

"Definitely not, Hermione is much too young to get married." Robert said, looking pointedly at Ron.

"Oh Merlin," Ron groaned, placing his head in his hands as George, Angelina, Ginny and Harry laughed hysterically.

"Don't look so upset Ronald; I'm sure that Mr Granger wouldn't have minded you marrying his daughter if he hadn't seen you this morning." Luna commented seriously.

Everyone seemed to stare at her in disbelief for a moment, before realizing that this was Luna.

Harry smirked as he heard Jean whisper to Robert,

"She hasn't changed much, has she?"

Robert laughed, though not unkindly, and smiled warmly at his wife.

"I'll see you later, I really need to leave this table." Ron muttered, as he stood up.

"And where are you going young man?" Molly demanded.

"Oh don't worry; I am not going to Hermione's room." Ron snapped, sharing an exasperated look with Harry before he left.

"I should hope not."

George continued to smirk and laugh to himself, while Angelina rolled her eyes, but most of the tension had left the table with Ron and Hermione.

"Robert, Jean," Arthur began, "Could you explain to me what an internet is?

"_The _internet is-"

Jean's explanation was cut off by the flapping of wings, everyone looked up as a magnificent black owl came rushing towards the table. Harry's stomach seemed to be doing flips as he realized who the only person that would send an owl to him was.

It came as no surprise to him when the owl landed right in front of him. Harry quickly reached out and untied the letter from the owl's leg.

_Potter,_

_I have considered the offer that Weasley gave me yesterday. After much thought and deliberation I have decided that it would be in the best interest of both myself and my family for me to help you. Therefore I consent to becoming a spy for the Order and will do my best to obtain information from the Doom Soldiers, not for you but for my wife._

_This brings me to my demands, I want you three to ensure that my wife is completely protected, leaving their no possible way for her to be found or traced by ANYONE except you three, until this is all over. I hope that you can take my wife somewhere today, as I plan to accept the offer to become a Doom Soldier tomorrow when Gregory comes back. I feel it would be I my best interest for me to tell Lestrange and his followers that my wife has gone to her mother's until the fighting is over. It would likely be believable that I would want my wife out of the way, especially considering Gregory's threat. Now my second demand is rather simple, I want it to be recognised that I am not a Doom Soldier, even when I become one. I am doing this for you lot, so I had better not be thrown in Azkaban when this is all over, understand?_

_If you accept these conditions then I will assist you. I will contact you with one of those Galleons, like Granger said, and it would be best of none of you try and come in contact with me until this is over, as it would blow my cover obviously. My wife is already at her mother's, it would be suspicious if it was found out that she was not there so I recommend that you add extra protection to the house, and a Fidelius charm too, below is the address of the Greengrass'. You should be secret keeper. The owl I have sent is untraceable and could not have been seen or followed. I already have a galleon so if anything comes up I will contact you with it, and if something is really important I will use it to suggest where were met up._

_Draco Malfoy_

Harry grinned broadly at the end of the letter, trying to supress the irritation at Malfoy acting like he didn't know how to treat an under-cover spy mission. He looked at Ginny, who had been reading the letter over his shoulder, and smiled at her.

"That is great new!" Ginny said excitedly.

"Yeah, it is. Listen can you tell the Order about it? I need to find Ron and Hermione, so that we can go and set up the protection."

Ginny nodded, as Harry quickly raced out of the room as he heard George question Ginny already. They were finally making progress, really good progress! After over a week locked up here in this house, today they had made some major breakthroughs and Harry felt optimistic that they could handle anything Lestrange threw at them.

**Review Please ;)**


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

_Author's Note: __So sorry for the long delay with this chapter but I've just started back at school and the amount of homework I've been getting has been awful :( hopefully, this chapter will make up for it, since it is the longest I've ever written. Its 14 pages long, and the most I'd written before that had been about 10, please leave a review x_

Ron's POV

Ron frowned as he sat down at the breakfast table and could feel his mother's glare on him, honestly! It had been 3 days since the whole Hermione-was-in-his-bed thing but it seemed his mother was still annoyed with him. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Ron began buttering a piece of toast. He was 25 years old for Merlin's sake, he did not need to be reprimanded by his mother.

"Morning Gin," he said to his sister, who was feeding James in his highchair on her other side.

"Hey Ron," she said distractedly, rubbing her stomach.

"Are you ok? Is the baby ok?" he asked, alarmed at his sister's behaviour.

Ginny smiled warmly at him for a moment before nodding her head quickly,

"Of course, I'm fine really. Just feeling a little sick, to be honest. Pregnancy tends to do that to you."

Ron nodded,

"Why don't you go take a rest? I'll deal with James for you."

"Oh would you? Thanks so much Ron, Harry was meant to feed him but…he was busy."

"It's fine."

Ginny shot him a grateful smile as she rushed off, probably back to bed.

"How you doing, mate?" Ron asked his god-son, as he picked up the cereal bowl Ginny had left behind.

"Uncle Won!" James grinned.

Ron grimaced, he remembered when he had come to visit James once, just after he had learned to talk, and he was quite horrified to hear himself be addressed as "Uncle Won-won", he had been convinced for weeks that Harry had put his son up to it but it seemed that all of his nieces and nephews had picked up the name now, so it was more likely George. It was almost as annoying as when someone decided to call Victorie, "Vicky". Thankfully, that nickname had not caught on.

"Yeah, you want to finish this?" he asked, lifting up a spoonful of something very lumpy that he hoped was porridge.

James shook his head determinedly.

"Can't really blame you little man, here you go." Ron said, handing James the toast he had just buttered. James seemed to like this much better, as he began to devour the food immediately. Ron reached for another bit of toast for himself and they sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Aunty 'Mione!" James shouted suddenly. Ron looked up to see Hermione coming over to them, a smile on her face as she looked at James.

"Hello James," she cooed, kissing his head and tickling him lightly.

"Uncle Won is gwiving me bwreakfast!" he exclaimed, "Mummy's was nwot nice."

"Oh dear," she grinned, sitting in between them.

"Good morning," Ron smiled at her, kissing her cheek quickly.

"Morning."

"So have you any idea what we are supposed to be doing today?"

"No idea, I was looking for Harry to ask but I couldn't find him."

They absently watched James for a moment.

"I'd imagine we are just going to spend the day trying to plan something," Hermione sighed.

"I really can't wait to leave this place," Ron sighed, starting to get annoyed at all the time they spent holed up in the depressing house. He never thought he would see the day when he actually missed doing paperwork at his office.

"Cabin-fever?" Hermione asked him wryly, and Ron got the feeling he was missing something.

"What?"

"Never-mind, muggle thing."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Ron began eating his toast finally, as Hermione continued to play with James.

"Isn't he adorable?" she asked him.

"Yeah." Ron said, before realizing that she wasn't really waiting for an answer.

Ron allowed himself a small smile as he watched Hermione play with the ginger-haired little boy, picturing for a moment that instead of James she was holding one of their children. He only grinned more at the thought, feeling a longing for it to actually be true. Surprised that he wasn't freaking out at these thoughts, Ron realized that he really couldn't wait to have all this with her. It was mad really that they had only been back together a month, it simply felt like they had been together all along and that they had never parted. He wasn't worried anymore that they were getting too serious, too fast because when you know, you know, right? They had lived through a war, and were trying to stop another right now, if that had taught him anything it was that life was short. It seemed that the two of them only ever admitted they loved each other when they were looking death in the eyes. They had their first kiss during a battle for Merlin's sake! And it had taken Hermione being tortured, _again_, for them to realize that they missed each other. Well, not anymore. Ron was determined that they would make up for the ridiculous amount of time that they had spent avoiding their feelings through their seven years at school and even throughout the last four years.

Hermione had lifted James out of his seat now, and he was hugging tightly to her.

"I really love you, you know." Ron said to her softly. She looked a little surprised but beamed at him nonetheless.

"I love you too."

Ron was about to ask her something when Harry came rushing towards them,

"Order meeting now, there's a problem."

"What's happening?" Ron demanded, jumping up off his seat.

Harry looked round to check that no one around them could hear what he was going to say. He needn't have bothered, the closest person to them was Mum and she was halfway down the table.

"Doom Soldiers are attacking-"

"Where?" Hermione gasped, pulling James tighter to her, as dread bubbled in Ron's stomach.

"Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and St Mungos."

"No way!" Ron shouted, completely shocked.

"Yes, they're going to be in about 30 minutes, the Doom Soldiers are preparing as we speak. ORDER MEETING NOW, EMERGANCY! EVERY ORDER MEMBER IN THE MEETING ROOM!" Harry said, roaring the second part to the whole room, everyone immediately began to scurry.

Harry looked like he was about to start shouting orders again before he noticed the child in Hermione's arms. James was looking incredibly frightened, clutching tightly to Hermione and staring at Harry, it dawned on Ron that James was scared of Harry at the moment.

"Jamie," Harry said softly, reaching out his arms for his son but James let out a little cry and shook his head, Harry looked completely devastated.

"Come on James," Hermione said, "It's just your Daddy, he just want to give you a big hug, right Harry?"

Harry nodded gratefully at her, as James finally allowed himself to be lifted by his father.

"Ginny's in bed mate, she's not feeling well." Ron said.

"Ok, I'll take James up to her. I'll be in the room in 5 minutes, ok?"

"Harry, wait!" Hermione called, "Are you sure, I mean, how do you know all of this?"

"Malfoy sent a message on the coin, just now." Harry answered, before running up the stairs and leaving the couple in shocked silence.

"Do you think Malfoy's telling the truth?" Hermione asked him.

"Yeah, unfortunately, I do." Ron said worriedly. Lestrange was not wasting any time.

oo00OO00oo

It was chaos. Everyone was going mad.

3 separate attacks.

3 of the most public places in the Wizarding world.

Diagon Alley. St Mungos. Hogsmeade.

"EVERYONE QUIET!" Harry commanded. "I only got word of the attack about 5 minutes ago. We need to split into three groups, each group going to a separate location."

"How many people do we need to take?" Ron asked.

"Malfoy said there's going to be quite a lot of Doom Soldiers at each place."

"So we can take 3 teams of maybe, 15?" Ron said, working out how many people they could send.

"What about the other countries? Couldn't they help us?" Dennis asked.

"The portkey won't get them here fast enough to make a difference," Hermione said.

Ron nodded in agreement, they needed to keep the volunteers a secret for as long as possible so that they could surprise Lestrange.

"We could use the aurors anyway," Ron said, "Send word to Kingsley, they'll be coming anyway so the earlier they come the more numbers we have, the better."

"I'll go to the ministry then, explain what's going on." His father said, already rushing to the fireplace.

"Right, so what are the teams?" George asked when Arthur disappeared.

"I think that me, Ron and Hermione will lead a team each to one location." Harry said, looking over the people in the room.

Ron opened his mouth to argue with this plan, he didn't want Hermione going out on her own. He wanted them to stick together, she was still recovering, after all it had only been around two months since her kidnapping. He needed to look out for her, and he couldn't do that in a separate location. Besides, Neville, Bill, George or someone else could take a team instead, then she could stay with him. He was about to say all of this but Hermione beat him to it,

"That sounds good Harry," she said, "How will we split everyone up?"

Ron barely heard Harry's answer as he made his way over to Hermione, something about a list of names in another room that Harry went to retrieve.

"Hermione," he whispered urgently, when he was beside her, "I think you should let someone else lead a team, you could-"

"Ron, save it, I'm just as capable-"

"I know you are!" Ron answered, frustrated, as loud as he dared with so many people around them, "But what if you get hurt-"

"What if you get hurt?" she shot back in her most determined voice.

"I'm an auror, we're trained-"

"That's nice Ronald, but this is Order business, not auror stuff. I am just as much in charge as you so I will take a team."

They glared at each other for a moment, Ron sighed eventually when he realized that he was not going to win.

"Fine, I just don't want you to get hurt."

Her expression softened slightly,

"I won't, and neither will you, right?

Ron laughed and smiled at her, despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Course not, you'd kill me." He grinned.

Right at that moment Harry came rushing back into the room holding a piece of parchment,

"Right, I have the names of everyone here. Now, Molly and Ginny are going to stay and watch the children, especially those that have both parents in the Order. Does anyone else want to sit this one out?" Harry said.

"Harry dear, I think it would be best if I wait here with Teddy. I'm not that good in battle." Andromeda said nervously, clearly worried that everyone would be angry at her for this decision.

Ron knew that it wasn't her battle skills that stopped her from coming, it was that she didn't want little Teddy to lose anyone else, Harry seemed to understand this too,

"That's fine Andromeda, it gives us even numbers anyway." Harry said.

Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her over to Harry with him,

"What're the teams then?" Ron asked.

"I'll call them out now, we only have twenty minutes left so we better decide where we are going, I think I'll take Diagon Alley. Where do you two want to go?"

"St Mungo's" Ron said immediately, without giving Hermione time to answer.

"I'll go to Hogsmeade then," Hermione frowned, probably able to see that the boys had taken the more populated destinations, and therefore more dangerous situations.

"Good," Harry said, before turning around to the rest of the room.

"Listen up everyone, we only have ten minutes left until they attack and we need to try and evacuate too. So I'm going to Diagon alley and my team is, Bill, Arthur (he knows to go there), Fleur, Dean, Luna, Susan, Hagrid (I'll send him a patronus), Terry, Jack, Hestia, Alicia, Demelza, Lisa and Rodger. If everyone could come over to the red armchair, I'll make it a portkey."

Harry group immediately gathered around the portkey, Ron noticed that they all looked quite nervous. He couldn't really blame them, considering what happened at the last battle Lestrange was at. Ron tried not to think about the tally of deaths.

"Now, this is Hermione's group. Charlie, George-"

"Yes! I'm in Hermy's group!" George called, much to Harry's annoyance. Ron grinned at his brother, actually very glad that he and Charlie were in her group.

"-Angelina, Dennis, Parvati, Padma, Flitwick, Sprout, Katie, Aberforth, Anthony, Dirk, Oliver and Penelope. The professors are going to meet us at the locations, I've sent them a message. So, Hermione's group, go over to the old footrest."

That group made their way to the soon-to-be-portkey, but Hermione remained beside the boys.

"So that leaves, Percy, Neville, Audrey, Ernie, Justin, Hannah, Pomfrey, Minerva, Michael, Dedalus, Cho, Gabrielle, Lee and Rosmerta in Ron's team. Go over to the wooden chair. Again, the teachers will join you once you're at St Mungos."

It hadn't escaped Ron's notice that he had gotten the people Harry would not want, his fan club and ex-girlfriend, he shot a glare at Harry for giving him Dedalus, Gabrielle and Cho. The trio leant in towards each other to talk.

"We have about fifteen minutes until the attack, we can make our own team's portkeys right?"

"Yes, of course. Listen, we need to get as many people away as soon as we can." Hermione said, "Especially you Ron, you need make sure that patients can get away."

"Yeah, I think St Mungos have a safe house and emergency portkeys for each floor so as long as we can get the announcement sent, they should be able to get away."

"Good, it won't be as hard to get everyone out of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. We ready to go?" Harry asked them.

They both nodded, as they went to walk away, Hermione grasped both of their arms and pulled them back, biting her lip.

"You'll be careful, both of you, right?"

Harry and Ron exchanged a quick grin before turning back to her,

"Don't worry, it'll be ok." Harry said giving her a quick hug before walking away from them.

Ron and Hermione just stared at each other for a while, neither wanting to leave the other.

Hermione looked around them, presumably to check that no one was watching before turning back to him, she walked forward quickly and placed her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his briefly. Ron pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

Someone cleared their throat loudly, causing them to break apart.

"Come on you two, we're in a bit of a hurry at the moment." Harry said, looking torn between amusement and exasperation.

Ron walked over to his group, trying to maintain some of his dignity amongst the stares and snickers thrown his way and concentrate on making his portkey. After a few moments it was ready, Ron looked up and noticed that Harry's group were already gone.

"Ok, everyone hold onto the chair, or a person, we have 10 seconds."

oo00OO00oo

Ron raced through the corridors of St Mungos as fast as he could, trying desperately to avoid the massive chunks of wall that were flying randomly all over the place. Running around the corner, he let out a few curse words as he noticed more Doom Soldiers blocking an entrance, seven of them.

"_EXPELLIARMUS!" _he shouted, disarming one of his opponents easily.

Ron ducked behind the wall, hiding himself from view as the Doom Soldiers tried locate where the spell had come from, Ron waited until he had a clear shot on a robed figure before he fired again,

"_STUPTEFY!" _

The figure crashed to the ground but he had given away his position, the six remaining figures ran towards him,

"It's a Weasley!"

"It's _that_ Weasley!"

"_CRUCIO!"_

He spell shot past his head, narrowly missing Ron, he let out a sigh of relief to see it pass him,

"_FLIPENDO!" _he roared, the strength of the spell so great that three of the Doom Soldiers were knocked backwards, colliding with the wall.

Ron barely had time to register this small victory as the three remaining attackers circled around him,

"_LOCOMOTOR!"_

"_PROTEGO!" _Ron defended; he didn't have an opportunity to ponder the insignificant spell the Doom Soldier had cast another at him,

"_EXPELLIARMUS!"_

"_FURNUNCULUS!"_

Ron dodged the disarming spell but the second one was unexpected, it grazed the side of the arm and he could already feel horrible, ugly boils begin to develop on that area. Ron sent a blasting spell at the Doom Soldiers before racing off down the corridor,

"_PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" _He shouted over his shoulder, not pausing to see if he had hot his mark.

Their efforts were not helping much. The moment Ron and his team had arrived at St Mungos they were overwhelmed with the chaos, and the Doom Soldiers hadn't even arrived at that point! The emergency portkeys had been taken, meaning that there was nowhere to take the patients on the hospital, an alarm had gone off the minute the portkeys had been taken resulting in the frantic running and screaming occurring when Ron and his team had arrived.

They had immediately ordered the hospital to move all patients to the basement of the hospital, where the Minerva and Rosmerta had begun protecting the floor with as many protective enchantments as they could (on Ron's orders), while he told Madame Pomfrey to stay and take care of some of the more critical patients that shouldn't have been moved. Quite a lot of healers had remained with the patients too, but Ron was delighted to see that about 10 had decided to come up and help them fight.

While of all of this was happening, Ron had briefed his team, situating them all at different points of the hospital, ready to fight. Kingsley has sent 30 aurors to help, thank merlin, and they too split up to wait for the attack. The Doom Soldiers had launched in at that moment, ten minutes after they had arrived. The number of Doom Soldiers had seemed to paralyse everyone for a moment, there had been at least sixty of them, but soon enough the fighting had begun all over the hospital.

Ron was unsure of how long they had been there at the moment, it seemed like hours ago when he was kissing Hermione goodbye but years on auror missions told him that he probably wasn't fighting as long as he felt like he was. Running through the first swinging doors he saw, Ron crashed into an empty ward, and let out a breath when he saw the Doom Soldiers running past the door.

He burst out of the ward, into the corridor and aimed his wand at the backs of the two figures running ahead of him,

"_STUPEFY! STUPEFY!"_

The figures collapsed to the ground as Ron ran past them, he quickly bound them with robes and made a portkey out of an empty potion vial, sending the back to the ministry. He hoped that the aurors would be able to get more information out of this set of Doom Soldiers than the last ones they captured, who hadn't been able to tell them anything about Lestrange.

Shouts of battle distracted him from his thoughts, he tore down the corridor once again, trying to reach the people he could hear.

Ron ran down a set of stairs, pausing to see what was happening when he reached the door to the floor. He could make out quite a lot of Doom Soldiers battling Neville, Lee, Hannah and, what appeared to be a few healers.

He approached the fighting silently, quickly casting a stunning spell at the nearest Doom Soldier, who crumbled onto the ground. He noticed that Hannah and Neville were fighting side by side, so were the healers, so he joined Lee and the 5 Doom Soldiers surrounding him.

"_STUPEFY! LOCOMOTOR! PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" _Ron said, trying to overwhelm his opponents.

Ron's wand flew out of his hand, as multiple disarming spells hit him at once. He watched in horror as his wand landed on the other side of the massive room, near the healers and their battle,

"Shit! Damn, shit!" he swore under his breath.

"Not so cocky now, are you?" One of the figures in front of him sneered, aiming his wand at Ron's arm.

"_DIFFINDO!" _

Ron winced as the spell tore a deep gash in the same arm that the boils occupied, trying not to think about how nasty that arm was looking, or the pain, he took cover behind a broken piece of wall. He began to throw out lumps of stone at Doom Soldiers, the hospital really was in quite a state due to all the blasting spells. He began to panic when he realized that he couldn't continue like this, with no wand, for much longer.

Neville and Hannah were holding their own quite well, Ron could see that they already had a few Doom Soldiers tied up around them. Lee seemed to be handling himself brilliantly, knocking out his attackers easily and the healers were definitely doing a good job. There were only about seven still fighting now, although, Ron noted with apprehension, three of them were the ones surrounding him.

Ron nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked away from the Doom Soldiers reluctantly and found himself face to face with one of the healers, who was handing him his wand back.

It took him a moment to place where he knew this particular healer, but when he did, his eyes widened in shock, he shook himself out of his surprise and quickly reached for his wand.

"Thank," Ron muttered, standing up, unsure of what would make this less awkward, and prepared to attack again.

"It's fine," Tim mumbled, turning away from Ron and pointing his wand at an approaching Doom Soldier.

Ron cast a shield around himself as he joined Lee again, who was tying up more Doom Soldiers. There was only five Doom Soldiers remaining standing now, three were duelling with Neville, Hannah and the healers and two were near Lee.

"_STUPEFY! EXPELLIARMUS! PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" _He shouted.

"_PROTEGO!"_

"_RICTUSEMPRA!"_

"_STUPEFY!"_

Ron dodged out of the way of the tickling charm, sharing a bemused look at Lee, as they both continued throwing spells at the Doom Soldiers. However they were having little luck, their opponents seemed to be the best of all the battles Ron had taken part in today and they couldn't get a clear shot at them. The only good thing seemed to be that the Doom Soldiers didn't get them either.

Suddenly, a patronus came flying through the air, the bat landed in the middle of the room and spoke in a cold, clear voice,

"It is done, leave."

The message was clear to everyone in the room. Ron tried to get the anti-apparation wards up but they were too slow. All the remaining Doom Soldiers disapparated immediately.

Ron cursed himself for not putting the wards up quick enough.

The sudden silence seemed odd in the large corridor. Ron sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"At least it's over." Hannah said, sounding very relieved.

They were all lost in their thoughts for a while, not sure what to say at the moment.

"Did he really send a _tickling_ curse at you?" Lee said suddenly, looking completely befuddled.

"Yeah, he did actually." Ron frowned, he too had been very confused with the actions of the Doom Soldier. Not even in panic had Ron ever sent such a silly charm at someone in a battle.

They were not given any more time to ponder the strange actions of that Doom Soldier, because Minerva McGonagall came upon them at that moment.

"Oh thank Merlin! You're all ok, we have all gathered in the lobby. We got worried when you didn't come."

Ron nodded, feeling a little guilty that he had not followed his own Orders, to immediately go to the lobby when the battle was over.

"How is everyone? Fatalities? Injuries?" Ron inquired nervously, not really wanting to know the answer.

"None." Minerva said.

Ron was taken aback,

"None? No injuries?"

"No, we are not sure about you, but the only injuries received were bruises and cuts. Nothing serious."

Ron looked around the small group he had been fighting with and noticed that the same could be said of their injuries.

He frowned, it was not that he wanted someone to be injured, or dead, or that he was being cynical, but, in his experience, an attack of this scale (where they were severely outnumbered) usually did not end with no serious repercussions. Especially considering that the last battle Doom Soldiers had been at, eight people were killed.

"Right, we should stay here and help-"

Ron's sentence was cut off as, for the second time in twenty minutes, a patronus burst into the room. Ron recognised the small, graceful animal immediately as it stopped before him and he let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that no one else recognised the animal though, as they had all their wands pointed at the small creature, Ron laughed inwardly, wondering what spell they were planning on using on a patronus.

Hermione's voice came out of the otter's mouth,

"Ron, meet us at the place where we first met Padfoot, as soon as you can. Our _helper_ wants to speak with us."

Ron sighed, he wondered what Malfoy wanted to talk to them about. He hoped that it was good news because he wasn't sure he was up for another battle right now, although the chances of Malfoy wanting to meet, in person, at the Shrieking Shack, to discuss something good just didn't seem likely but Ron took comfort in the fact that the patronus showed Hermione was alright, and it seemed like Harry was too, since she had said "us".

"That was Hermione?" Neville asked, unsurely.

Ron nodded once, about to speak when Lee interrupted him,

"Well, what the hell did that mean?" he said, looking half-amused, half-confused.

"It means that I have to go now can everyone else stay here and help out? Make sure the patients are all ok, yeah?" Ron said, then another thought occurred to him and he turned to the healers, "Are all the patients alive? None of them got hurt, did they?"

"No, they should be fine. Some of them should've been moved but they'll recover." The healer closest to him answered, Ron realized that it was Hargles, and he quickly turned away from the curious stare that he was receiving from Tim.

"Good, that's, uh…good. So, yeah, everyone else stay here for as long as you are needed and then come back to headquarters. If one of you could tell everyone else that too, and then send a message to headquarters so that you can get more help." Ron said, anxious to leave and see for himself that Hermione, and Harry of course, were ok.

"I'll take care of it, Mister Weasley." McGonagall said.

oo00OO00oo

Ron jumped slightly as Malfoy burst into the door, he had only gotten there a few minutes ago himself and had just satisfied himself that Hermione and Harry were ok. To say that Ron was shocked when he saw Malfoy would be an understatement, he had only seen him about a week ago anyway but it seemed that a lot had changed. The closest to this new look, that Ron had ever seen Draco before, would have been _that_ night at Malfoy Manor. Although Ron didn't notice a lot outside Hermione that night, he had noticed how Malfoy looked. He had looked pale, and scared, but more than that, he looked completely out of his depth. Like he had entered something he had no way out of, like he wanted to run away, like he finally realized that the war was not some silly school feud. He looked like he was seventeen, and in over his head, again. Ron felt a growing sense of trepidation; this little meeting was certainly not going to have good news.

"What's this about, Malfoy? Is it about the attacks today? I mean, what the flipping hell were they about?" harry demanded.

Malfoy remained silent, he seemed to be becoming more and more anxious and frightened as time went by. Wringing his hands, over and over again, and muttering to himself all the time, Ron caught the words, "decoys", "wand" and "heir" a few times.

"Draco?" Hermione asked timidly, "Are you feeling ok?"

He finally seemed to notice that they were there, and he looked at Hermione,

"Is Astoria safe?" he said, his voice hoarse and tired.

"What? Oh, um, of course she is." Hermione answered, she threw Ron a confused look but he just shook his head, who was he to understand Malfoy's weird ways anyway?

"How? How is she protected?"

"We went that address and cast the Fidelius Charm, like you said. What's this about, have you got information or not?" Ron said.

"And you're Secret Keeper?" Malfoy wheezed, looking at Harry.

"Yeah," harry said slowly, "She's fine Malfoy, what's the problem?"

Malfoy ignored him, he began to pace the room, all the while he was whispering to himself, Ron got the impression that he was deciding something.

"I want out." He said suddenly.

"What are you talking about?" Harry said angrily.

"I-I can't do it, I won't, can't…just, you don't…you've no fricking, I can't be a Doom Soldier anymore, it's just…I can't!" Malfoy shouted.

Ron was tempted to throw something at him.

"You can't be serious! What the hell is wrong with you Malfoy, have you no idea-"

"Don't you dare! It's you who has no idea! Listen, I'll…I'll give you the hideout and I'll tell you what he's planning-"

"You found out?" Hermione inquired excitedly.

"Yes, yes but you must listen to me! I'll tell you what I learned but I want to leave. Right now. I'll go to Astoria and we'll, we'll…stay at her mother's until it's all over." Malfoy pleaded, Ron's eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets at seeing Malfoy practically beg.

"Malfoy, you can't just disappear! Don't you think that would make Lestrange suspicious? If you just disappeared?" Ron said, trying to be patient.

"No! No! It wouldn't matter though, would it? He wouldn't be able to find us!"

"But Draco, you must see that he would move location if he thought, even a little, that someone had betrayed him, can't you just stay? For a little longer?" Hermione pleaded.

"You don't understand...you don't understand," Malfoy muttered.

"Then _explain_!" Harry implored him.

"It's…it's…he's…oh Merlin. You just, you just don't understand what you're up against! He's got it all planned! He knows what he's doing! His parents, his _parents_! Oh Merlin!" Malfoy's breathing had become quite irregular now, he was hysterical.

"B-but, he's slipping." Hermione said.

The three of them turned to look at her in confusion.

"Today, no one was hurt, or injured, he didn't get what he wanted, right?" Hermione explained.

Ron and Harry both nodded at her, Ron himself had thought that earlier too.

Surprisingly, Malfoy let out a bark of maniac laughter.

"Are you mad?" He sneered at her, looking so much like his old self that Ron felt the usual reaction to his face – wanting to punch him,

"Do you really think that he failed today? Do you think that it was just good luck that no one died, I thought you were smart Granger, tell me, did it never occur to your stupid mind that it was odd that you weren't exactly being pushed today?" Malfoy ranted.

The trio looked at one another in fear, what had they done? Had they played right into Lestrange's hands? What was his plan?

"First of all, let's not start with the insults Malfoy, I'm not in the mood to deal with your usual self," Ron snarled at him, "and secondly, if you know the point of whatever happened today, tell us now or we will not help you anymore."

"_You're _helping _me, _oh that rich," Malfoy muttered, before speaking more clearly, "He went after that bloody wand, you idiots! You know the one that you, Potter, told the world had unlimited power!"

Ron felt like the wind had been knocked out of him, the Elder Wand! Again! He groaned at their stupidity, Lestrange's plan had been perfect. With the entire Order away fighting, he would have had a clear shot at the wand. It was simply lying in Dumbledore's tomb at Hogwarts. _Shit. _And any teacher that weren't in the Order would have gone down to the Hogsmeade battle anyway, to help somehow, so the school had been empty of people to defend the wand.

"Oh _no!_" Hermione said.

"What are we going to do now?" Harry said hopelessly.

"It doesn't matter though, the wand won't work for him anyway, unless he defeats the previous master," Ron said, looking meaningfully at Harry and Hermione.

The room was silent again. Malfoy resumed his pacing, his smug exterior vanishing once again.

"What's wrong with you?" Ron said, frustrated, glaring at Malfoy, "So what if he has the Elder Wand? What's it to you? He's not even the master of it, and it's not like you're in any more trouble than you were a week ago."

Hermione frowned at him, probably because of his carefree attitude towards the fact that the most dangerous Dark Lord around had a, potentially, unbeatable wand, but she and Harry both turned to Malfoy too,

"Yeah, what's got you so…scared?" Harry asked.

"Well everyone should be scared right now!" Malfoy snapped, "You have no idea who he is, what he's capable of! He's not just _her _son, you know!"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked sharply.

Malfoy gave another maniacal laugh, his entire body twitching while his hands fidgeted constantly.

"He wanted…he wanted an heir. So he went to her, r-rather obvious isn't it? I mean who else was so…devoted to his cause?" Malfoy muttered frantically.

Ron felt the blood drain from his face, the last piece of the puzzle finally falling into place.


	28. Chapter 28

**I am so sorry for how long it has taken me to get this up, but I am at the end of this and I have been agonising over how to finish it, any other authors get that? Anyway I have also been working on my other story, so if you get a chance take a look at that. I like it better than Heroes Again, as I've put more effort into getting the story and emotions right. So here it is, Chapter 28!**

Chapter 28

Hermione's POV

"But, if a group goes in that exit then they will be attacked straight away by a set of Doom Soldiers, and it's so far away from Lestrange that they won't get there in time!" Ron was saying, as he studied the map in front of him.

"You're right," Harry agreed, "We'll have to enter at a closer point than that."

The trio were gathered in the dining room of Grimmauld Place, they had been working on a plan of action for three hours and, although Hermione hated to admit it, they weren't exactly getting very far. Malfoy had provided them with the layout and location of Lestrange's hideout, and they had been trying to work out the best way to get inside. It had taken a lot to get Draco to go back to the Doom Solders after the meeting a few days ago, he was still a coward at heart and he only looked out for number 1. Still, Hermione found herself sympathizing with him a little; it couldn't have been easy to work so hard on putting his Death Eater days behind him, only to join a whole new army set on world domination. Especially, since it was Voldemort's son that led the army.

That had shocked her, to say the least. She supposed that it all made sense, if Lestrange was Voldemort's heir, but it terrified her. Did Voldemort ever meet him? Did he train Lestrange? Did he leave instructions? Or did Lestrange just decide to follow in his father's footsteps? None of those ideas was all that comforting, to be honest.

But it had given them the breakthrough that they had been praying for, it could give them a way out of the nightmare that they had been facing for the last few months, and that was all that mattered. Hermione's mind wandered back to what her life had been like before she ever heard of Benjamin Lestrange. She and Ron were still fighting, she was doing ok, but she had been going through her life in a daze, never feeling anything or really caring. She had been with Tim, and she thought she was happy.

But, she realized now how wrong she was, being with Ron again showed her what she had been missing. She had fallen head over heels for him, again, in a matter of weeks, when she had been trying to convince herself, with Tim, that these things take time. A part of her felt that, despite the horrors she had faced in the last few months, she had finally gotten her life back. It scared her a little how fast her and Ron had fallen into the routine of being together again, but she couldn't deny that she was terrified of what would happen when this was actually finished, when she and Ron weren't forced to work together, would they break up again? Would they fall apart?

"Are you ok, Hermione?" Ron asked suddenly, he was looking over at her worriedly, and Hermione realized that she had been very quiet for the last few minutes.

"I'm fine," she smiled warmly at him.

Ron looked unconvinced but he let the matter drop.

"What do you think then? What do you think we should do?" Harry asked her, gesturing to the little building in the table that was the layout of Lestrange's hideout.

"I suppose I agree with what Ron was saying, we keep the teams we had for the last attack and enter at different points and times, if they think they are being attacked in one area, then the others will be less protected." Hermione answered.

"We need to think about what we are going to do when we get near him though," Ron said, still looking her at oddly, "He has the elder wand, and he will be aiming to kill."

They were silent as they let this sink in.

"It should be us," Harry said determinedly, "We can get the Order in, and they can deal with the Doom Soldiers, but it'll be us that go after him. This whole thing is about us, getting revenge on us, so he won't hesitate to kill any of the others."

"Yes, but Harry, we might not be able to decide who faces him, he'll be there." Hermione pointed out logically.

"No, he'll be hiding away the minute we come," Ron said bitterly, "His dad always hide away in a battle, didn't he? Junior's probably going to do the same."

"Ron's right, he'll probably go somewhere that he thinks is safe, so we need to be watching him at all times and follow him."

Hermione nodded at them, dread filling her up at the thought of facing Lestrange again. In all honesty, there weren't many people in the world that scared her, but Lestrange would haunt her forever. He was sick and twisted, and had the most evil qualities of both his parents, and when he tortured her, she had wished for death just so that she wouldn't have to face him. He was pure evil. She would never tell anyone this, but Bellatrix Lestrange had always scared her in a way that Voldemort never could, because she had no real reason to turn out like she did. Hermione liked to have reasons. Voldemort hated love, because he never had any and that gave him a weakness, and it was why he turned out so evil. But Bellatrix, she was just pure evil, she had no reason to get such a sick pleasure out of torturing a person, sure she came from a family of pure-blooded bigots, but nothing had ever really happened to her…she was just evil, and that frightened her more than Voldemort ever could have. In some ways that was why so was so scared of Benjamin Lestrange, he had the power and mastermind of his father, but when he was torturing her, Hermione could see the maniac influence of Bellatrix in him.

"You don't have to Hermione," Ron said, looking at her with unflinching eyes, "We could handle him, you could deal with the Doom Soldiers, and then you don't have to go near him again."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ronald. I am perfectly fine."

Ron sighed, and turned away from her, She knew that Ron just wanted her to be safe, and in some way she knew he was right in that she would rather stay as far away from Lestrange as possible, but she could never watch Ron and Harry go near him alone either. They had both taken a few crucios but they had never been subjected to the pain of an actual torture, where they took they spell over and over again, and she would make sure that they never were.

Hermione noticed that Harry was staring intently at the map in front of him, so she walked over to Ron and took his hand in hers, and gave it a squeeze. He looked down and her in surprise, but she merely smiled up at him.

"I'll be fine," she whispered to him softly.

"I know." He answered back, smiling warmly at her.

"Ok," Harry said, turning back to them as they dropped hands and walked over to him, "If one goes in the front, a decoy, then the next group can come through that door there, at the back, but what about the last group?"

"Hmmm, what about coming down? You know they could come in through this balcony, and the front room has a foyer, so they could jump down into the room. It would surprise him." She added defensively at the odd looks she was receiving from the boys.

"And you would jump down from a floor above?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione grinned, "One of you would do it."

"That sounds about right." Harry laughed.

"I thought someone was poly-juicing her there, for a while," Ron said.

"Oh shut up!" Hermione said, ignoring their sniggering.

"That actually is a good idea, though, and we'll have much bigger numbers since we can get the other Orders to come," Harry said.

"Speaking of, we need to decide when we're doing this, because we need to contact them." Hermione reminded them.

"How about tomorrow?" Ron said.

"Are you serious?"

"He better not be!"

"Come on guys, this has lasted too long. We've got a plan, more or less, we tell everyone tonight, and tomorrow it will be over. This had lasted long enough." Ron said persuasively.

"I don't know, we shouldn't rush into something like this, without being fully prepared, it could all go wrong." Hermione said worriedly.

"Hermione, this is the Order, we are always prepared to fight. And do you think I would let my family…or you… do this if I didn't think we could." Ron's ears went slightly red when he mentioned her, but he stood strong and dared either her or Harry to challenge him.

"Ron's right," Harry sighed, "We may as well act as quickly as possible."

"No, Harry-"

"Listen, Hermione, Malfoy was a mess the other day. Do you really think he'll be able to keep up the act for long? He's a weak link, and we need to do this before he cracks," Harry said, "I'm going to go and contact the other Orders, tell them to send their volunteers over first thing tomorrow morning."

Harry left the room quickly, before Hermione had the chance to argue anymore. Hermione frowned after him, and then she let out a sigh and sat down at the table.

"Oh cheer up," Ron teased, plopping down beside her, "It's not that bad."

Hermione glared at him, but he just grinned back. As much as she tried to hold it in, a laugh escaped her lips at the ridiculousness of his expression.

"Ha! See, you're not that mad, really."

"You incorrigible, Ronald."

oo00OO00oo

"Where have you been, Ronald?" Molly demanded, as Ron came rushing down to their table. Ron sat down in his seat beside Hermione, before answering his mother.

"I had something to do, mum." Ron said.

"What?" Molly pressed, and Hermione supressed a laugh at the annoyed expression on Ron's face.

"Just an errand to run, it doesn't matter."

Molly looked far from satisfied at this answer, but before she could press any further, Harry interrupted her,

"So you got it taken care of then?" He asked, from his seat beside Ginny, across from Hermione. Hermione was suspicious at the grin he was sending Ron.

"Of course," Ron scowled, "Can we eat?"

"Someone's crabby," Hermione commented.

Ron rolled his eyes.

Food was served almost straight away after that. Hermione relaxed a little at the comfortable scene before her. If she looked past the fact that there were another three tables in the room, then she could pretend that they were all just at another Weasley family dinner. It had been a long time since she was actually at one of those though.

Hermione chatted to Ginny for a while, the young mother talking about the names they were considering for the new baby. Hermione was shocked to hear what they had narrowed them down to, but she thought it best not to comment on the oddness of the names. It was up to Ginny and Harry, after all.

Ron, however, did not feel the same. Once heard the names Ginny was saying, he pulled himself out of his conversation with George and Harry,

"Are you serious? Do you want the kid to be bullied?"

"Ronald!"

"I like the names, and it's none of your business what I call my child anyway."

"Gin, this is child abuse. That name is just…wrong. Albus is bad enough, but Severus?"

"Ron has a point," George weighed in, "As the godfather to be, I must say that I object to the name."

"Fine, we can change the godfather."

"Wow, wow, wow, no need to do that. I will teach the kid to be such a good prankster that everyone will look past the name. It will be hard, but I can do it." George sighed dramatically.

Ginny looked like she was about to murder someone, so Hermione intervened,

"What about if it's a girl?"

To her surprise, it was Harry that answered her,

"Lily, if it's a girl she's going to be called Lily."

Hermione smiled at them, "They're both lovely names."

She could see that Ron was about to say something else, so she stood on his foot in warning.

The table went back to their individual conversations, while George and Ginny continued to debate names.

"All of their kids are going to be named after someone from the war." Ron whispered to her softly.

Hermione turned to him, frowning,

"I suppose."

"I know why they're doing it and all, but still, I just think that if I ever had kids, I wouldn't want them to be a reminder of the war, you know?"

Hermione stared at him in shock for a moment. Where was the boy who fumbled and blushed when he first told her he loved he? She had never seen Ron so at ease when talking about this kind of thing, normally be would be red-eared and stammering.

"I do actually," She managed to get out, "Maybe that's something that they want to do, but I wouldn't want to be reminded of someone who died every time that I said my child's name."

"Exactly, we fought for this, right? We fought so that our kids would have nothing to do with war, so why make them a reminder of it the minute they're born?" Ron said to her.

Hermione nodded, she completely agreed with him. That was how she felt, but that was not to say that she disapproved of a child being named after someone who had died, she just couldn't do it. She felt ridiculously giddy about the fact that she was talking about this with Ron, and that they both had the same view on it.

"So where were you then? What was the errand you had to run?" She asked, mostly to have something to say.

To her surprise, Ron's ears turned a rosy shade of red.

"Doesn't matter." He mumbled.

Hermione stared at him in shock, she hadn't really been all that interested in what he had been up to, but now she was intrigued, she was about to ask him more questions when Harry gestured for them to follow him.

Hermione and Ron immediately stood up and followed Harry. The trio stood at the centre of the room, on front of all the tables. It reminded Hermione of the Great Hall.

"As you all know, we received information regarding the hideout of Lestrange a few days ago, we also know what he's planning and how he intends to get what he wants. We have been planning an attack for the last few days." Harry said, he then looked towards her to take over.

"The plan is that we take them by surprise. We will split into the three groups that we were in the other day. Each group will attack the hideout from a different entrance, which will be explained in more detail tomorrow. The aim is to capture as many Doom Soldiers as possible; us three will then go and find Lestrange."

Hermione noticed that most people looked quite impressed with this plan, although she could tell that some were surprised by its simplicity.

"We have contacted the volunteers from the other Orders and they will arrive tomorrow, which is when everyone will get the complete briefing of the attack. The attack will be tomorrow." Ron said.

The reaction was instantaneous. The entire room irrupted into talk amongst themselves, some looked panicked, while others simply looked relieved. The trio looked at each other and decided that it was the most that everyone needed to know right now.

"I would like to personally thank everyone for their help in this fight," Harry said, "We know that it couldn't have been easy to move in here with so many others, and help us, especially when the Order is supposed to be retired, but you have all been amazing and you have saved many lives."

There were a few cheers after this, and Hermione couldn't help but smile.

"It's true," Hermione continued, "You have all been amazing, from the very first attack on the ministry we have been able to count on you and you have all sacrificed so much to be here. I want to thank you all for the work that you have all put in, whether that be going on the missions or helping out here, and making sure that everyone is looked after, even with the huge numbers. Thank you all so much."

Ron smiled over at her, before he began talking too,

"I think we should all raise a toast to what we have all achieved, and hopefully tomorrow night we will all be in our own beds-"

"Yeah, then you can't be walked in on, eh?" Someone called up from the crowd.

Everyone began to laugh, as Hermione felt a blush in her cheeks. She threw a glare down at where she had been siting, for she was sure that it was George who had mad the comment.

"Exactly," Ron smirked, causing her to slap him in the arm and a few chuckles to come from the crowd, "But anyway, let's raise a glass to a successful mission tomorrow, thank you all, and let's remember all the lives lost since this started."

"Cheers," was chanted throughout the room, as the trio made their way back to their seats.

Hermione and Ron clasped hands under the table, as the mood changed in the room. The air became charged with an excited, yet nervous, energy. Hermione leaned her head on Ron's shoulder as it finally hit her. No matter what happened, hopefully, this time tomorrow they would be going home. She knew that their plan wasn't guaranteed to work, but still, she had a feeling that everything was going to be ok.

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

A knock on his door quickly pulled Ron from his thoughts; he quickly threw the object in his hand back into the drawer beside his bed.

"Who is it?" he called.

"Me." A small, calm, voice came through the door and Ron grinned, his annoyance at the person vanishing when he realized who it was,

"Come on in, then." He said.

He watched as Hermione slowly came into the room. She closed the door gently ad turned to face Ron. Her curly hair was cascading in waves down her back, and she was dressed in her pyjamas. A pair of tiny blue shorts, with a white tank top. She was stunning looking.

Hermione crept slowly over to his bed, and Ron scooted over and made room for her to lie down alongside him. They lay face to face, with their noses inches apart.

"I thought you weren't going to come in here anymore?" He asked her playfully.

Hermione laughed slowly,

"I couldn't sleep, too nervous, I think."

Ron nodded, he knew what she meant, although he was more nervous about something else entirely.

"And you thought I could take away your nerves?" He suggested, waggling his eyebrows.

"No, you prat. My parents are here!"

"Never stopped you before."

"Yes, but they never knew about us then!"

"And you're supposed to be the logical one? Because that made no sense, whatsoever."

"Git."

Ron laughed softly.

"What do you want to do then?"

"I don't know, talk?"

"About?"

"Tomorrow, maybe. Are you scared?"

"A little, but I think we can do it." He answered honestly.

Hermione nodded, as the pushed herself closer to him. Ron wrapped his arms around her waist, as she placed hers around his neck and buried her head in his chest, as they both closed their eyes contently.

They were silent for a while, enjoying the contact. Ron smiled to himself, if someone had told him two months ago that he and Hermione would be back together, squeezed into a bed in Grimmauld Place, planning an attack on a dark wizard, he would have laughed wistfully and reminded himself that he was supposed to be with Lavender. It was amazing how quickly the time went, but it felt right now. It felt like they were finally able to see past their history of fighting and hurting each other, and realize what was important. Ron wanted this moment to last forever.

"What'll we do when this is all over?" Hermione whispered to him.

"Well, I think I should be getting a holiday, at least." He grinned.

"I'm being serious, Ron!" Hermione said, "D-do you ever think about the…future?"

Ron opened his eyes in surprise, and he found himself staring into Hermione's open eyes.

He was about to make another joke, to delay this conversation but he found that he couldn't. This was it. This was the moment that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about for the last few days. He had imagined doing this better, maybe a meal, and most definitely at a time when they weren't facing death the next day, but as what happened so often when he was around Hermione, he found himself making a spur of the moment decision, throwing caution to the wind. Well, he decided, it's now or never.

"All the time," He whispered back to her, "It's all I've been able to think about for a while actually."

"Oh?" Hermione said, using that tone of voice she used when she was trying to act like she wasn't really listening, but she was actually hanging on every word. Ron found it endearing.

"Yeah, I've was thinking, you know, when I was playing with James, about how I wanted to have a kid. Not right now, exactly, but I want what Harry and Ginny have, you know, a family and someone to come home to." Ron said, he could feel himself blushing already, how was he ever going to get through this?

Hermione opened her mouth to respond but Ron held up his hand.

"No talking for a few minutes, ok? I need to get this out. Well, I want all that, but I want it with you, only you. And I know that we've only started up again, but this feels right. I love you so much, more than anything. You're my best friend, the one person who really understands me. I've loved you since we were in third year, and you're bloody cat was driving me mad, but I couldn't understand why I cared so much about how you were getting to your classes when we were supposed to be fighting. I've loved you for most of my life, over half of it really. And even though we drive each other absolutely mad, and we never stop bickering, and we're complete opposites, I want to be with you forever. You're everything to me, you're what I think about every time that I cast a patronus, you're what I fight for, no matter if it's an auror mission, or if we were fighting Voldemort. It has always been you for me."

Ron stopped to take a breath, his heart hammering in his chest, he didn't know that speech had come from; Hermione was looking at him with shock and wonderment in her eyes,

"What are you saying?" She asked him softly.

It felt like the world had stopped and the only thing he was aware of was her, and the way her eyes were glittering with emotion, the way she clasped him a little tighter, the way her wild hair was taking up most of the pillow. He closed his eyes for a second, his stomach doing summersaults as he prayed for the courage that had somehow gotten him into Gryffindor.

"Marry me." He whispered to her.

He almost took it back but something in her eyes stopped him,

"I know that we're just back together, and that I should've done this better-"

And then she was on top of him, kissing him like she had never kissed him before. Her lips smashed against his, as he willingly deepened the kiss, her hands played with the hairs on the nape of his neck, as he left one hand on her waist and tangled the other in her hair. Their bodies pressed firmly together, until Ron recovered and broke the kiss,

"Was that a yes?" He grinned at her.

"Of course, of course, you idiot!" She half laughed and half cried, she began to pull him closer to her again, but Ron jumped up and opened his beside drawer,

"Aha!" He shouted as he found the small velvet box. He went back to the bed and pulled Hermione into a sitting position, before he knelt down on one knee in front of her, he opened the box and smiled a little as she gasped at the ring inside.

"Hermione Jean Granger, will you marry me?" He asked, his heart still pounding, despite knowing her answer.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, as Ron slide the ring onto her finger.

"Thank Merlin!" Ron said.

Hermione put her arms around his neck and pulled him down onto the bed with her, she pressed her lips to his with more force than such a small witch should have been capable of.

"I love you," she whispered into his ear as he placed delicate kisses along her neck.

**Well, were you expecting that? So, one more chapter left, and then the epilogue. What do you think? This had literally taken me all day to write, and I've looked at so many proposal fics for inspiration, and this came. Leave a review please!**


	29. Chapter 29

**I know that I said this would be the last chapter but there will be another before the epilogue. I didn't want to rush this and I felt there was too much to squeeze into one chapter. Sorry for the delay but my life's been mad the last few months and I have a lot going on but this story will be finished, I'm making it my priority now, over Finding Who You Lost, since I want it finished before 2013. Let me know what you think.**

Chapter 29

Hermione's POV

Hermione rolled over on the bed, and jolted awake when she collided with Ron's chest. She quickly glanced up to see if he had woken, but he remained sleeping soundly.

She smiled to herself as she watched him; he was simply adorable when he was sleeping. Her smile grew as the events of last night came rushing back to her mind, she was engaged! To Ron.

She and Ron were going to get married.

It was unbelievable. She found herself glancing at the ring on her finger before she could help herself. It was beautiful, and she hadn't been able to fully appreciate that last night. The band was gold, in the centre was a rather large diamond, surrounded by tiny pale blue diamonds. She loved it; it was perfect, and classic.

Hermione shifted closer to Ron, her happiness radiating from off her, she couldn't believe the changes in her life, compared to a few months ago. Just yesterday, she had been worrying about the future, and about how long she and Ron's relationship would last after this, and then he had proposed, they were going to spend the rest of their lives together.

She remembered always scoffing when people said, in those ridiculously cheesy shows her mother would watch, that when you knew, you knew, and time didn't matter. She had always convinced herself that before one should even consider getting married they should be dating their partner for at least three years.

But when she was with Ron she forgot all of that, and simply focused on the moment, something she had never been able to do. They balanced each other out, Ron taught her how to relax, to be spontaneous and to make decisions based on what she felt, they were complete opposites, and that used to terrify her. Now, it was her favourite thing about them.

Hermione glanced over at the clock, and was alarmed to see that it was already eight o'clock, and suddenly, the other events of yesterday made themselves known on her mind.

Today was the day.

They were facing Lestrange again, they were going to fight. Her stomach lurched uncomfortably at the prospect. Nerves running through her veins, how would she do this, how would she face him?

She shut her eyes tightly, trying to push away the images of Benjamin Lestrange's sneering face; she wouldn't allow him to destroy her happiness.

She sat up, knowing that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now, she was too anxious. That was probably a god thing. She didn't want to be caught in Ron's bed again, even though they were engaged now.

She hid a smile, thinking about how their family would react to that, it would certainly surprise everyone, maybe they would think it too soon but Hermione didn't really care, she was glad that this as happening, it gave her something to fight for.

She quickly climbed out of Ron's bed, and grabbed her pyjamas, that had been discarded at some stage last, she quickly shook Ron awake,

"What?" He demanded groggily, then opened his eyes fully when he realized she was leaving, "Where're you going?"

"I don't want to be seen in here again, by any of your brothers, thank you very much." She grinned at him, and watched as his body relaxed.

"Suppose."

"I'll see you later." Hermione said, leaning down to kiss him.

Ron quickly pulled her down onto the bed, and she ended up sitting on his lap, straddling him, as the kiss deepened even further, and Hermione found she was getting lost in it, and the feel of her _fiancé_ beneath her.

A few minutes, she pulled away, reluctantly,

"Ron, as much as I would love to continue this, I don't think you would like my father to see this, again."

Ron laughed, but he did release her.

"See you soon, fiancé." He called to her, as she was leaving. Hermione turned around to face him again, and beamed at him.

"Sure, fiancé."

oo00OO00oo

Ron's POV

Coming down the stairs, Ron was met with the reality of the day. He had been able to forget, so far, what was going to happen today because he had been basking in happiness all morning since Hermione had said yes.

It was impossible for him to process, he had been planning on proposing sure, but he had also been planning on waiting until this mess with Lestrange was over, but…last night, it seemed perfect.

He knew that he sounded like a prat for even thinking this, but last night, in that small room, squeezed into the bed, and trying to reassure each other that everything would be ok, symbolized their relationship. The only calm in a life of madness, and comfort, that only they could offer each other. It had been the perfect moment, sure he could've taken her out to dinner, and practised a speech, but what he had said last night meant more, to both of them, he knew. It had felt right to propose last night, and should the worst happen today, at least they knew how they felt about each other.

But as he came to the bottom of the stairs, he was met with the reality of today. They would be facing Lestrange, they would end this today. He just hoped that it ended well.

The house was packed tight with people. A large group had gathered at the door, and Ron assumed these were the people from the other orders that were here to help them, and then there were the Order members that Ron already knew, rushing about trying to prepare.

"Hey, mate," Harry greeted, "Have you gotten breakfast? No, well, once you get it can you gather your team, tell them the plan? Then me, you and Hermione can talk."

Ron nodded, not needing to ask what the three of them would be discussing.

"Sure, are all of these from the other orders?"

"Yeah, big numbers, huh?" Harry said looking delighted at the help they would be getting.

"Ronnie!"

Ron turned, as Harry walked away, and saw his mother gesturing him over to her.

"Morning, mum." He grinned at her.

"Yes, good morning ,dear, you seem awfully happy this morning." She said, looking at his oddly.

"Just looking forward to putting this behind us." He lied effortlessly.

"Hmmm, sure, aren't we all? I know that I can't wait to be back at the burrow, although I'm sure that there are some repairs needed, what with the attack and that." His mum babbled on, "But, nevertheless, it should be better than here. We could just stay with one of you for a few days."

Ron nodded, knowing full well that he would make sure that his parents stayed with Bill, or maybe Harry (perfect revenge for marrying his baby sister). There was no way that he was having his mum and dad staying at his apartment when he finally gets his privacy back.

And he very much doubted that Hermione would appreciate that either.

"Anyway, dear, you need to go and get some breakfast. Hermione's just come down too, and there's stuff on the table."

The way that his mother was eying him suspiciously told Ron that she thought it was no coincidence that Hermione arrived downstairs moments before Ron, and he feigned a look of innocence, since this was technically true.

"Her parents are there too though."

Ron threw his mother a knowing look, as she grinned mischievously at him. Honestly, she really did surprise him sometimes.

"I'll keep that in mind," He muttered, as he entered the dining room.

Hermione was indeed sitting with her parents, but George and Freddie were there too.

Ron sighed, resignedly. George had made a habit out of sitting as close to them as possible in the morning. Ron suspected that they were his source of entertainment, being shut up here all day. For some reason, he enjoyed riling Hermione up, and since that usually involved embarrassing Ron, it was a win-win for George.

"Morning." Ron said, sitting down beside his fiancé.

Merlin, he loved that.

Hermione smiled at him, while her parent nodded in his direction.

"Good morning, dear Ronniekins. Are you excited?" George began.

"Yep, just like an auror mission. You?" Ron said, determined to ignore how annoying his brother was.

"Yes, you see, I'm in Hermione's team. It's going to be fun, right Hermy?"

"Don't call me that Georgie." Hermione replied sweetly.

George ignored this, as Ron knew he would.

"Sorry, Hermy-"

"Excuse me," Jean interrupted, "I'd prefer you didn't call my daughter that, _Hermione_ is the name I choose."

George looked like he had been slapped, and Ron bit back a laugh, as his brother quickly left the table.

Robert began to laugh too, while Hermione smiled at her mother.

"Brilliant, Jean! He's terrified!" Ron chuckled, helping himself to some toast.

"Yes, it's always fun to wind up your brothers, I must say."

Ron agreed, none of his brothers knew how to take Jean, they never could tell if she was joking or serious.

"So," Robert said, "This attack today, how bad is it going to be?"

"It's going to be fine, Dad," Hermione reassured, "We have a good plan, right Ron?"

"Yeah," Ron said quietly, "It'll be fine."

Hermione threw him an annoyed look, for not being more reassuring likely, but Ron gave her a stern look in return which certainly didn't happen often. She always sheltered her parents, too much in Ron's opinion. And what good would it do them in the long run?

"So no one's going to get hurt?" Jean asked worriedly, her eyes glued to her daughter.

Ron knew that she was thinking of the kidnapping, and how much pain Hermione had been in and he felt his stomach squirm, hopefully nothing like that would happen today.

"Course not, Mum." Hermione said dismissively.

Ron was about to tell her that there was a small chance that someone could be hurt but, before he could, he noticed Harry motioning them over.

"Come on, Hermione," Ron said, pulling at her arm reluctantly, "We have to talk to Harry."

Hermione nodded and rose, giving both her parents a quick kiss on the cheek. Ron tried not to stare as he noticed both their eyes becoming misty. He couldn't imagine how awful it must be for them, to let their daughter live in a world that they could never be a part of and watch her go out and face wars and battles that they didn't even understand.

"Be safe," Richard said, "Both of you."

"Always, Dad." Hermione smiled, as her father wrapped her in a tight embrace.

Meanwhile, Jean turned to Ron, tears threatening to fall.

"Look after my daughter," She whispered pleadingly.

"Always." Ron said softly, as Jean smiled warmly at him.

"Come on Ron, we have to go." Hermione said.

"Yeah, 'cos it was me holding us back." Ron said, rolling his eyes and forcing his tone to be jovial, trying to ease some of the tension.

oo00OO00oo

Harry's POV

"So, Hermione's team, you are going through the back door. Wait at least 5 minutes before entering the battle, no matter what." Harry said to the group.

"What about if something happens? And you all need us?" Penelope demanded.

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but Hermione had no such trouble.

"It's five minutes," She said, "Nothing can happen in that space; if we enter too early we will lose the advantage. It won't come as much of a shock to them, but if we wait then they will be surprised, and overwhelmed by the numbers."

"Right," Ron cleared his throat, "My team are going to jump down from the foyer, the true element of surprise, and I want you to wait at least ten minutes before joining the battle. We are entering with Hermione's team, but we will leave them and go upstairs to wait above the hall."

Harry could see the eyes of Ron's team widening at the mention of jumping down from an above level, particular Audrey and Cho, but they kept their mouths shut, probably realizing that their fear of heights were not as worrying as Benjamin Lestrange.

Needless to say, Hermione had gotten her way and didn't have to jump down from a balcony, mainly because Ron wouldn't tell her that she had to. Harry had told her that, since it was her idea, it was only fair that she done it but Ron hadn't been able tell her that, and so he volunteered himself.

Harry lost all respect for him in that moment, and hadn't waited to tell Ron so.

Honestly though, Harry was still in shock at how this had turned out. A few months ago he had been worried about getting through a meeting with the two of them in that same room ,and now he was still worried about getting through a meeting but only because they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

He remembered being nervous about them meeting up but using Lestrange as a way to bring them back together. He was like a child trying to force his parents back together and he hadn't even considered Lestrange as a big deal.

"So that leaves my team, we are going to go first, through the front door and cause a scene. Start fighting straight away, anyone you manage to get, send them to the ministry with a portkey." Harry said.

"There are a few, uh, finer elements to the plan too though." Hermione said, addressing the whole room.

"Praise Merlin! I thought that was the best that three war heroes could come up with for a moment!" Aberforth grunted from the back, to many sniggers.

"Don't worry, Ab, we've got it covered." Ron winked at him. "We need three volunteers."

Everyone stared at them for a moment, looking untrusting.

"While I have no problem volunteering for the Order," Neville began, "I would like to know what I'm volunteering for because, and I think I speak for everyone here when I say, you three are up to something."

Several seemed to agree, and someone, likely George, shouted out "Hear, hear!"

Ron rolled his eyes, but none of the trio could deny it.

"Fine," Hermione said briskly, "We are going to ask three of you to take Polyjuice, and be us."

There was a bewildered silence.

"Why?" Percy asked, looking like a bludger had just hit him on the head.

"Because," Ron said, "It will look immediately suspicious if only one of us were involved in the initial attack, Lestrange will know that there are people missing."

"Yes, because no one can do anything without the Golden Trio." George snorted.

"Exactly."

"Hermy, what's happened to you? You've changed." George said theatrically, placing a hand in his forehead.

Harry chuckled, before bringing the meeting back to order, "Calm down, and let's get back to topic. So, our impersonators just needed to fight, try and stay away from Lestrange because he will be targeting us but we think that Lestrange will run into a certain room. So me, Ron and Hermione are going to find him."

"And you have a plan for that?" asked someone in the back, Harry assumed it was someone from the other orders.

"Of course we do." Ron said defensively.

Harry sighed a little, the trio had spent a long time debating the plan they had come up with and Harry was still not happy with it but when Ron and Hermione decided to team up there was no stopping them.

"Right, so we are waiting on the signal from our source then we'll leave."

oo00OO00oo

Hermione could feel her heart beating in her chest as she stared up at the mansion before her. Could she handle this?

She heard someone approach her and tensed but relaxed almost immediately.

It was Ron.

"You ok?" He whispered to her, making sure that no Order members were eavesdropping.

Hermione reached out and grabbed his hand.

"I'm fine. Just nervous."

"Me too. But, at least it'll be over soon." Ron comforted her.

"Yes," Hermione smiled, "And then the only thing we'll have to do is tell everyone we're engaged."

Ron shuddered.

"Let's focus on one life threatening mission at a time, eh? I don't want to think about telling your Dad."

Hermione let out a small chuckle in spite of herself.

"Ready guys?" Harry called to them from a few metres away.

Hermione felt her heart speed up again, the panic must've shown on her face because Ron squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"We'll be fine."

Hermione nodded,

"I love you."

"I love you too." Ron smiled, surprised at her outburst.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck quickly as he placed a tender kiss to her head. She tilted her head and captured his lips, reminding herself what they were fighting for. They broke apart soon after, as Harry became more persistent.

"Merlin, what's wrong with that bloke? Have you no timing, mate?" Ron grinned while Harry just rolled his eyes.

"Ready now?" He demanded, though the anger didn't reach his eyes.

"Yes, Harry. We were waiting on you."

Harry looked at her incredulously but she ignored him.

"My team," She called, "Come on, I'm going to take you to our entrance and then Angelina-Me will lead you all during the battle."

"Did the aurors get called?" Ron asked Harry.

"Yes, I told Kingsley. They're going to come in about half an hour."

"Good." Ron said and Hermione had to admit he was a different person when he was in auror mode. "My team, follow me, we're going to the same place as Hermione's first."

oo00OO00oo

Hermione shushed the crowd behind her as she pointed her wand at the wards. It took her a few minutes but she manages to take them down using the spells Bill had taught her.

Her nerves increased as they approached the building, invisible under the disillusion charms.

"_STUPEFY!" _

Ron's voice broke through the silence, and Hermione watched as a Doom Soldier flew to the ground.

"Someone was slacking," George commented, as he set up a portkey for the man, "Looks like he was sleeping on Guard Duty."

"That's a good sign, Weasley." Minerva said sternly, "It means they are unprepared, and not expecting us."

"_Alohomora." _ Hermione said, pointing towards the door in front of them. It opened easily.

All too soon the large group found themselves in a large corridor. In the slender hall Hermione noticed how big their numbers were, and this was only two-thirds of them. She was filled with a new confidence.

Hermione looked around and spotted a door on the right, the door that would lead them to the main room where Harry's team were going to enter. There was also a staircase beside the door.

"Right, my team, this way please." Ron said pointing to the stairs.

His group quickly rushed up the stairs, disappearing after a few minutes. Hermione continued too monitor the hall, making sure that no Doom Soldiers had heard them.

She turned as the sounds of feet on stairs disappeared. She felt her stomach drop when she realized that Ron wasn't here anymore, suddenly she wished that they hadn't been disillusioned, she wanted to see him once more, just in case…

"Right, this is a matter of waiting. Once we hear Harry's team, we need to make sure that every Doom Soldier is in the room before we enter. So clear some space beside the door in case they come running down here."

Hermione's thoughts left her as she heard a stampede coming from the next room. Battle sounds filled the air and she felt her hands begin to shake. She yearned to run into the room right now, to help, to fight and to make sure that Harry and his team were safe.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, and Hermione barely had time to bark an order for her team and clear the hall before about twelve Doom Soldiers rushed down the hall, and into the room. As the door opened she could see flashed of red and green light but she tried not to dwell on this.

"Is that them all?" Michael asked cautiously.

"I would think so, Malfoy said there was a meeting but that there would be about ten or so guarding." Hermione answered.

"How long's it been?" George asked, for once his face was serious.

"Four minutes." A woman that Hermione didn't recognise answered.

Hermione sighed,

"Ok, Angelina, take the Polyjuice now." Hermione began, facing her team. "I want everyone to be careful, be on guard and make sure that we get them all. This is important, after today this will be over and we need to be the ones to win. Follow the plan, make sure only Lestrange leaves that room, organize portkeys for everyone who is captured, do not forget anyone and above all, stay safe. Thank you all. Take off the charms now."

Hermione sensed a change in the atmosphere. The nervous energy was gone, replaced with a calm acceptance that only those who fought in a war knew. This was their element, they were a team, they had a plan and they were determined to win.

She looked at each face in turn; George, Charlie, Dennis, Parvati, Padma, Kate, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Aberforth, Anthony, Dirk, Oliver, Penelope and the brave people who volunteered to help out people they didn't even know. They could do this, she was sure of it. Because she couldn't stand to lose any of them.

"Ok, go. And good luck." Hermione said.

They rushed past her but she was surprised when George turned back to her,

"You too, Hermione. Make sure Harry and Ron are safe."

Hermione nodded and smiled, giving George a quick hug.

Hermione waited a few moments before she too entered the room but she kept the disillusion charm on. Her eyes widened in shock, unprepared for the scene before her.

The mass of the Doom Soldiers paralysed her, she knew for certain that this was all of them because there couldn't be many more. There were nearly two hundred of them. Chills descended down her spine when she recognised so many of them. There was Goyle, Nott, Yaxley's son…and there were the ones who had tortured her. Hermione couldn't make her feet move, the sight of them terrified her and suddenly, for the first time in her life, she wanted to run away and pretend that this wasn't happening.

A green light flew past her head, jerking her awake. Fury build inside her as she realized that the Doom Soldiers were back to their usual strategy; aim to kill. She watched as her team joined Harry's in battle, and she was relieved to see that, so far, no one had been hurt from what she could tell.

Hermione scanned the room, searching for Lestrange. She needed to find him before he could hurt anyone else. She needed to get revenge.

He was there, just watching them all. It reminded her so much of Voldemort, the way that he too would allow his fighters to die for him without offering any assistance.

He sat on a large chair, much too like a throne for her liking, which seemed to be the only remaining furniture in the large room. Lestrange's dark hair looked greasy, his eyes were full of malice and there was something in his smile that was twisted. It was all just as she remembered. He was playing idly with his wand, surveying them. Hermione's heart leaped to her chest when she realized that it wasn't the Elder Wand but the wand he had used to torture her with not so long ago. Draco had been right! Maybe their plan would succeed now, everything was in pace after all.

She was nervous. What if their plan failed? What would they do? Would they have to go back too Grimmauld Place, again, tonight? Would they spend another two months making flimsy plans, rallying troops…hearing names of innocent victims? No. They couldn't do that. She wasn't strong enough to go through another way

Hermione ran through their plan again in her mind, just as Ron's team entered. They jumped into the room, shocking the Doom Soldiers.

Gasps of shock emitted form the crowd, and Hermione could see the lack of green light but increase in red in those few moments. She could hear more and more portkeys being made and she was thankful that their last team had created such as excellent diversion.

She didn't have much more time to ponder this, as a Doom Soldier rushed towards her. Hermione thought that he must've seen her, maybe the hazy outline, but then she realized that his eyes were fixed on someone else.

She looked over her shoulder and realized that he was running towards Aberforth.

Hermione opened her mouth to shout at him, to warn him. But she was too late. She was knocked off her feet as the Doom Soldier flew past her but she didn't care. She could only watch in horror as the Doom Soldier raised his wand and uttered the most deadly of spells.

"_AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

Aberforth's body slumped to the ground, as the spell hit him directly in the chest. His eyes widened in realization before a permanent look of calm etched itself on his face.

Hermione screamed in agony but no one heard her cry over the sounds of the battle.

"_STUPEFY!"_

Her voice was laced with anger and she felt a sick sense of satisfaction at the sight of the Doom Soldier falling to the ground.

Hermione quickly made a portkey out of an object on the ground, in too much shock to register what it was, while tears fell relentlessly from her eyes. She placed the portkey into Aberforth's hand, giving it a small squeeze as he disappeared. She wiped tears from her eyes as she stood up.

Hermione was furious, absolutely furious. Another innocent life had been taken by these vicious, evil, inhumane murders. Aberforth, who had helped the Order so much, who had helped the trio in their ultimate time of need, who lived a lonely life…was dead.

She swallowed a lump in her throat, forcing herself to focus.

Hermione panicked when she realized that Lestrange was no longer where she last saw him. She remembered their plan and hoped with all her heart that she hadn't messed it up. She couldn't allow Aberforth to be dead for nothing.

She ran, as fast as her feet could possibly carry her. She pushed through the fighter, enemies and friends, determined to reach the other end of the hall. She dodged every spell that flew past her, and she let out a string of curse words that Ron would've been proud of when she got hit by a cutting curse in the arm.

Finally! Hermione reached the door. Quickly taking down the disillusion charm, she threw it open with all the strength she had and ran through it.

"Hermione!"

She jumped in shock as she felt someone collapse into her, then relaxed a second later when she realized the voice belonged to Ron. A few seconds later another set of arms, Harry's she assumed, were wrapped around them.

"Where were you?" Ron demanded as they pulled away. "We were worried."

Hermione's eyes began to fill with tears again as she remembered the horrific event that had held her up.

Ron's eyes softened immediately when he noticed her tears and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder comfortingly.

"It's ok," he whispered, "We've still got time."

Hermione didn't respond but she saw Harry and Ron exchange a look over her shoulder.

"Hermione?" Harry asked gently.

She met his eyes reluctantly,

"A-aberforth. He's…he's g-gone." She said, tears leaking from her eyes as she leaned into Ron.

Harry's face hardened in anger and grief while Ron's arm became rigid around her.

"We'll get them. I swear to Merlin, we're going to get them." Harry said his voice full of purpose.

"Come on," Ron said. "We need to go now."

Hermione nodded, concentrating at the task on hand.

"Where is he? I lost track of him." She said, running a hand through her hair.

"He ran down this hall a few minutes ago," Harry informed her, "I think Malfoy was right, he panicked when he saw that he was beginning to lose and he's away to get the Elder wand."

Ron shook his head,

"His big plan of hiding the wand until he needs it is about to backfire."

"Ready then?" Hermione asked.

"Ok, same plan. We've got him isolated now; we know what he's going to attempt to do so we just have to stop him. We can do this." Ron said.

"Let's just make sure he doesn't become the master of that bloody wand." Harry grinned. "Let's go. He's upstairs, second door on the right."

"We know, Harry." Ron said, rolling his eyes.

Ron grabbed her hand, and in turn she grabbed Harry's before the set off in a run down the corridor.

Hermione felt the adrenaline course through her bones and for the first time that day, she felt completely confident that they could do this. She squeezed both her boys' hands as they stood outside the door. The door which was the only thing separating them from Lestrange.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Harry's POV

Ron pushed the door roughly open. The trio exchanged a nervous look before Ron raised his wand and disappeared behind the door. Harry followed immediately but somehow Hermione managed to get into the room first.

Harry managed to briefly catch a glimpse of Lestrange before spells were being cast in all directions.

"_Expelliarmus!" _Hermione shouted.

"_STUPEFY!" _He roared back but his wand had already begun hurling towards Hermione.

Lestrange sent a cruel smirk their way,

"No matter, I'll just use this one." Lestrange smirked before taking cover behind a piece of furniture.

Harry was expecting this but somehow the sight of him pulling out the elder wand seemed to shock him. He felt like he was back at Hogwarts, seven years ago, with Lestrange's father brandishing the most powerful wand in the world. The situation was too alike for Harry to be comfortable with. The Order were, once again, downstairs risking their lives for a cause that Harry and his two most trusted friends seemed destined to destroy.

This was the first time harry had seen Lestrange up close really, the first time that he had the opportunity to really look at him.

His dark curly hair was flapping around his face, he looked flustered and stressed. A far cry from the indestructible, confident mastermind that Harry had come to recognise him as. Lestrange was slipping, he wasn't in control anymore and he couldn't handle it.

"_Petrificus Totalus!" _Ron shouted.

His spell missed but it seemed to shake Lestrange.

"_CRUCIO!"_ Lestrange roared evilly.

Ron dived the escape the spell. He ended up quite far away from Harry and Hermione. Harry was anxious now; they needed to be closer together. If Lestrange got them separated, he could cause more damage but at the same time, they had the villain surrounded. This was good.

Harry kept his wand pointed firmly at the deranged man and was relieved to see that Ron and Hermione had too. Not too long now. Then this would be over.

"I must admit," Lestrange began, "I am surprised. I did not expect this today and of course I wonder how you managed to get into my home. But it doesn't matter. This will have no effect on the outcome of our…_battle._ In fact, you have probably brought forward your demise. Surely you do not see yourselves walking away from this? As we speak, my Doom Soldiers are taking care of your Order friends. I will win."

"Funny that," Ron interrupted, "it looked different from where I was standing. It looked like your Doom Soldiers were getting their asses kicked."

Lestrange smiled a strained, cruel smile.

"Are you sure about that? This battle already has fatalities, and I am sure that none of my Doom Soldiers have been killed."

"Yes, because they have been captured and are on their way to Azkaban." Hermione said determinedly.

"Yes, I was wondering when the mudblood would speak-"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

"-but what does that matter? I will just find new followers."

"To do what, Benjamin?" Harry said daringly, "Get revenge? Get revenge for your mother? Get revenge for your father? They killed themselves. They brought about their own deaths because they were pathetic, evil, freaks."

"SHUT UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY FAMILY!"

"We know everything about your family but can't you see how pointless this is?" Hermione pleaded. "End this ridiculous battle! You say that you want revenge on us, but revenge for what?"

"It was fairly obvious." Lestrange panted, "And they call you the smart one? You murdered them."

Harry could see Lestrange losing it. Beads of sweat were appearing on his forehead, his eyes were frantically looking around the small room trying to locate an exit and his grip on the wand was a little too tight to look natural. Harry was pleased to see that they were blocking his way out. He was beginning to sound like a whiney child. They were getting close now…

"Face it, it's three on one. You aren't getting out of here alive." Ron sneered.

Lestrange stared at the redhead for a long time, as if pondering him.

"Maybe. While I severely doubt that you three will defeat me, hypothetically let's say you do. What do you think is going to stop me from killing one of you before you get to me?"

He grinned sadistically at them.

Hermione seemed to have enough. Harry could tell she was terrified of him. She was pale and her eyes were twitching but she wouldn't show weakness in front of Lestrange. She spat her words at him, "None of us are going to die. Your father couldn't achieve that. Your mother couldn't achieve that. You are just a mistake that they certainly never gave a second though to. So what makes you think that you will be able to do what they could not?"

"YOU LIE! YOU KNOW NOTHING YOU FILTH!"

Harry and Ron both turned redder at this, their faces contorted in anger. But Hermione stood her ground. She inconspicuously straightened the palm of her hand behind her back, tell the boys to wait. That she was in control.

Harry could feel pride swell inside him at her strength. After everything that Lestrange had put her through, Hermione was proving that he could not beat her. She stood up to the man who had relentlessly tortured her, who had killed her grandfather and terrorised her family.

"You should give up now." Harry snapped, "Give up now, call off your sad little army and accept defeat. A lifetime in Azkaban is your best option."

Lestrange sneered, "As opposed to what, are you going to kill me?" He cackled madly, "The Golden Trio strike again, eh? What makes you think I'm defeated, that I'm going to let you kill me?"

Battle cries from far away reached Harry's ears. But for once, he found himself completely focused. He felt far away from those downstairs. He could only think about this small, dirty, musty room. And the people inside it.

Lestrange was twirling the Elder wand in his hand now, and Harry found himself unable to look away.

Lestrange noticed this, and sneered at him, "Seen something you recognise, Potter? Are you surprised? Have you finally realized that you cannot beat me? Not when I have this."

"Oh no!" Ron mocked, "Whatever will we do! It's not like we ever seen that coming!"

Lestrange turned an odd shade of purple and Harry could see what was about to happen before it did. Lestrange was quick, he had his wand pointed at Ron with an ugly sneer on his face before Harry could utter a word.

"RON!" Hermione screamed in warning.

"_AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

At the last second, Lestrange changed the direction of the wand. Harry could see from the corner of his eye as Ron tried to make it across the room, he could hear Ron's agonised scream but Harry wasn't aware of anything except the jet of green light speeding towards the brunette in front of him.

Adrenalin pumped through his veins as Harry done what was natural, what had always been natural to the trio. Protect.

His body collided roughly with Hermione's, as they crumbled to the ground. She was still, under him, for a moment too long and Harry feared the worst. Time had stopped as he stared at his best friend. Not her, not her. He repeated these two words inside his head frantically.

"_Diffindo!" _

Harry heard Lestrange grunt in pain as Ron slide down on the floor beside them,

"H-hermione?" Ron stammered out.

To Harry's immense relief Hermione sat up, rubbing her head slowly and frowning at him,

"You could've been a bit gentler."

"Sorry for saving your life then." Harry grinned.

Before Hermione could answer, Ron launched himself at her. Harry smiled as he watched the couple hug tightly.

Ron seemed to be in shock, he croaked out, "Bloody hell, woman! You could've moved a little, nearly gave a heart attack!"

"Well, isn't this touching?" Lestrange sneered, though Harry could tell he was beginning to become uneasy.

Before anyone could stop him, Ron had jumped up to his feet again,

"_STUPEFY!"_

"_CRUCIO!" _Lestrange shot back.

Both spells missed but Ron had started the battle.

Harry and Hermione dived into action, shooting off every spell that they knew. Maybe they could end this quickly, and Lestrange would never have the chance to become the master of that wretched wand.

A huge ball of red light raced towards the trio, Harry had no idea what spell Lestrange cast to make it but he didn't care at that moment. The spell knocked them backwards, off their feet.

Lestrange vanished through the door.

Harry cursed loudly. They should've been expecting that.

"You two ok?" He asked, slightly concerned that there was blood and scrapes on both their faces but he supposed that he looked the same.

"Fine." Hermione answered. "We have to follow him before we lose him."

Ron and Harry nodded. Together the trio raced out of the room and found themselves in the corridor from earlier on.

"This way, I see him!" Ron shouted. Now that they were out of the small room the battle sounds seemed much nearer.

Ron ran off down the hallway with Harry and Hermione hot on his tail. As they turned a corner in the maze that was this mansion, Harry could see Lestrange. He was up ahead of them, turning around every so often to shot a jet of green light towards them. Harry could feel himself shaking. They were in an awful position, everything he had ever learned as an auror told him this was not the way to fight Lestrange. The three of them running side by side took up the length of the hallway, and with Lestrange ahead of them shooting the killing curse it would only be a matter of time before one of them was hit.

As if reading his mind, Hermione put of a hand to stop them while Ron cast a protecting spell over them.

"This is stupid," Hermione said, clutching at a stich in her side, "We can't keep chasing him, it's giving him the advantage."

"What are we going to do then?" Harry shouted, his reply coming out harsher than he intended, "He is getting away and if we lose him this will be for nothing!"

"Ok, calm down mate." Ron said, shooting Harry an annoyed look, "It isn't her fault. Anyway, he needs us. He is not going to be the master of that wand unless he defeats you, so he will come to us."

"So you want us to wait here?" Harry said incredulously, while shooting Hermione an apologetic look.

"I think we should just run into the next room."

"And wait?"

"What good is chasing him going to do?" Hermione pointed out.

Although Harry didn't want to admit it, they had a point.

"Fine, come on."

Harry walked ahead and found himself staring at a door on his right. He entered the room quietly and was surprised by what he found.

All over the walls, he found himself staring back at him. The room was small and dark. It chilled Harry to the bone. The walls were covered from head to toe in picture. Pictures of him, Ron and Hermione. They were pictures that shouldn't have been there. Pictures that they were unaware had been taken. They were a mix of pictures from over the past seven years. Since just after the final battle.

Harry saw one of Ron and Hermione, a few weeks into their initial relationship. They were in a muggle café, presumably near her parents' house. They were in quite an intimate position. Harry smiled slightly at the sight of them, before their relationship had turned sour.

There were photos of him and Ron on auror missions. Top secret auror missions. There was one in the actual auror department. It was of the two of them, goofing off and throwing paper aeroplanes at each other.

Photos of Hermione during the year she returned to Hogwarts shocked him. How had Lestrange gotten into Hogwarts? Did he have Doom Soldiers from that long ago? She was sitting in the library, at her favourite table reading a huge book. Harry felt like being sick at the idea of her being watched there. In her safe place, in the place that reminded him of their childhood.

One photo caught Harry's attention. It was a photo of him, James and Ginny. They were in James' room at their home. He was only a new-born in the photo. Harry and Ginny were standing over his cot, watching their sleeping baby. It was an intimate moment, a memory that he treasured and had he seen the photo anywhere else he would have smiled fondly at it. But now, he wanted nothing more than to yank the photo of his family off the wall. How dare that monster look at his child? At his wife?

It wasn't the only one. Harry was furious to see that there were many photos of James. Of the days out with his godparents, of private moments with his father and of family lunches at the Burrow. It seemed that every memory Harry had of the last seven years had been captured and placed on this wall. Ron and Hermione's moments too.

His jaw dropped when he saw a photo of him and Hermione, a few months ago, on one of their lunches. It was the one where they discussed James' birthday, Hermione's night out with Luna and he had told her that he wanted her to come over, it was the night they announced Ginny's pregnancy. It was also the day of the first ministry attack. Lestrange had been watching them right up until the attack.

On and on the photos went, Hermione's graduation, Ron 21st birthday, Lavender moving into Ron's, Hermione on dates with Tim, the trio and Luna's birthday, Harry at Ginny's first match, Hermione presenting a case in court, the day Hermione moved in with Ron, Harry shopping for Christmas presents, Hermione at her parents, holidays, the Burrow…

There was no end.

"Oh my god." Hermione whispered, sounding absolutely terrified. "He was there for _everything_!"

"This is disgusting." Ron said, looking sick.

The door slammed open behind them. The trio jumped as one, wands raised and in position as Lestrange entered the room,

"Ah, it seems you know now how long I have been working towards this goal."

"You sick bastard!" Ron shouted angrily.

Harry kept his wand poised on Lestrange; they couldn't afford any slip ups now. Lestrange was mad, deranged even, but he was dangerous. He had been meticulously planning this moment for seven years, and it explained so much. It explained his huge following, his spies, his untraceable attacks. It was so well planned that Harry doubted they would even have found his hideout if it weren't for one mistake. Draco Malfoy. Lestrange tried to get his last remaining family member into his army and it had been his only mistake.

"No! I am merely avenging my parents." He sneered back at Ron. "And saving the world from having to deal with you three."

"_FLIPENDO!"_

"NOO!"

Ron was knocked backwards, off his feet, by Lestrange's spell. His body hit off the wall, then crashed to the ground with the sound of his head hitting the tiled floor bouncing off the walls.

Harry was about to rush to his friends aid, and pray that he was alive, when he noticed a small movement. Just like Hermione earlier, Ron flatted his palm in a "stop" gesture. Harry could have sung in relief.

"_DIFFINDO!" _

Harry was lurched back to the matter at hand by the sound of Hermione's voice. Harry had never heard her sound so furious. She was angry, she was frustrated and she was worried about Ron. And harry knew from experience that there was nothing more dangerous than an angry Hermione.

Harry tried to help her but his spell weren't connecting with Lestrange.

"_Expelliarmus!" _Lestrange said, almost lazily.

Harry and Hermione both watched in horror as her wand flew from her hands.

"_IMMOBULUS!"_

Hermione's body went stiff, and Harry watched as she crumpled to the ground. Her eyes filled with fear and worry.

"Now, Mr Potter, it seems as if we are alone." Lestrange grinned.

Harry raised his wand but Lestrange shook his head.

"Ah, ah, ah." He slurred, "If you do that, it won't take me long to cast a green light towards one of these two. Which one? Decisions, decisions. The mudblood or the blood traitor related to my mother's murderer?"

Something in his mad eyes told Harry that Lestrange was not joking. He lowered his wand reluctantly, trying to think of how to get himself out of this situation. He knew that Ron was awake but he didn't know if he was capable of helping him. Harry could dodge the spells Lestrange sent at him but that would only delay the inevitable. Maybe that could work? One of the Order members could come. Harry knew that he was grasping at straws but he didn't have any other plan.

"Now, I am going to take what is mine." Lestrange pledged, "I am going to accomplish what you stopped my father from accomplishing. I am going to become the master of Elder wand."

As Lestrange raised his wand slowly, taking pleasure in his position of power, Harry noticed Ron move, ever so slightly, so that his wand was free to take aim, Harry had a split second to be confused as Ron pointed his wand, not at Lestrange, but at Harry, before spells were being shot.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry was knocked off his feet, as his wand sailed through the air and landed somewhere close to Ron. Harry threw him a look of betrayal before realising that it wasn't only his wand that sailed towards Ron.

The Elder wand was wrapped securely in Ron's hands. Lestrange looked shocked for all of a second before Ron's auror instincts kicked in,

"_STUPEFY! _"

Lestrange collapsed to the ground, as Harry grabbed his wand and quickly bound him.

Ron was already at Hermione side, mobilising her. When Harry turned around he had been planning on demanding what the hell happened but he stopped at the sight he saw. Ron and Hermione were looking at each other, in a way that Harry hadn't seen in a long time. Their gaze was fill of love but he was used to that expression. No, they were looking at each other with complete hope and happiness. It had been a long time since Harry saw them completely content and it was refreshing to see.

But there was only so much a bloke could take,

"Ok, what the hell was that?"

Ron and Hermione looked a little sheepish,

"Well, we made a plan." Hermione stated.

"Yeah," Ron continued, "We thought we would surprise him by making sure that you weren't the master of the Elder wand. But then I woke up and he was about to be the master and kill you, I knew that my spell would take his wand away from him so I disarmed you. Sorry, mate."

Ron looked nervous that Harry wouldn't forgive him.

"But why didn't you just tell me that from the start?"

"Because," Hermione said in her teacher voice, "If you knew we were planning this we wouldn't really be defeating you, would we? And because of that, we couldn't be sure that the powers would switch from you to Ron."

Harry shook his head to try and make sense of this information.

"You two are unbelievable." He muttered. "But I'm glad you're ok."

Ron's POV

They grinned at each other as Harry joined their embrace.

For the first time in years they were together, they were safe and they were happy.

He and Hermione weren't fighting anymore. Hell, they were engaged! Benjamin Lestrange was dealt with and they could get on with their lives.

Harry and Ron jumped apart after a few moments, when their hug started to become uncomfortable.

"So, um," Harry coughed, "We should probably deal with this."

He gestured to Lestrange.

"Yeah," Ron replied gruffly in his most manly voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes from her spot between them,

"Men still don't hug?" She enquired.

"Definitely not." Harry and Ron answered as one.

Hermione shook her head at them before she caught Ron's eye.

Ron smiled warmly at her and took comfort that he could do that from now on. Her eyes were full of love and it still surprised Ron that it was for him. If one good thing had come out of this mess, it was that he had finally gotten his life back.

They leaned towards each other until their lips met. Ron smiled against her lips. This was where he belonged.

**Author's Note: Cheesy at the end, right? Well here it is the last normal chapter of Heroes Again. It was awful to write a full chapter about the confrontation and I couldn't seem to get a lot of R/Hr moments in because of the battle and that it was Harry's POV mostly. Hopefully it turned out ok.**

**It's just the epilogue left to right now and I'm not sure what to write for it. I was hoping that you might have some ideas, and could PM me or leave in a review. My main ideas have been a) just after this when they go back to Grimmauld Place and the reactions to the engagement b) Ron and Hermione moving in together c) Wedding d)Birth of either Rose or Hugo. These ideas are all very common for epilogues so if anyone wants to suggest one, or say which they prefer, please do :) **


	31. Epilogue

**Wow! I have finished this story, I honestly can't believe it considering the amount of times I was close to abandoning it. It has taken me over a year to write, which surprised me because I was honestly so naive that I thought I would get like three chapter a week written and be finished this story in a few months. I don't think I appreciated how hard being a writer (even on FF) was until I started this but I am so glad I did. This started as a small project to improve my creative writing (something I was certainly lacking in according to my mark in English) and I really think I have improved, well I hope so anyway! I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favourite or followed this story, it means so much to me and I can't believe that I didn't even get one really bad review. I have forced myself to finish this today because I don't want to keep you waiting any longer but I'm really sad to see this finish, which is why I found the epilogue agony to write but here it is!**

**In response to ****chavi**** who I couldn't reply to in a pm, I have actually read that story before and I love it. I was devastated when I read all the way to the end and it wasn't finished. But I don't want to write any M rated stories, sorry I just can't, it would have to be a T. I would like to finish it but I'm not sure if the author would be happy with that, I wouldn't want to steal anyone's story. It really made me smile that you thought I would be good to finish it, as it really is the kind of story I love writing and thanks for the epilogue suggestion too, I done it the best I could.**

Epilogue

Hermione stumbled out of the fireplace, relieved to be back at Grimmauld Place. She was exhausted. She, Ron and Harry had been at the ministry all day sorting out the paperwork for Lestrange and the Doom Soldiers. It had been long and tedious, especially since she was in her own department away from Ron and Harry. She hadn't realized how much time they had been spending together recently until today and she knew it would take a while to adjust to her normal routine again.

Hermione jumped out of her skin as cheers erupted around her.

She felt herself blush when she realized the cheers were for her. The whole Order was gathered in the room, she wondered if they were in here awaiting the arrival of her and the boys.

"Hermy!" George grinned, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Where're the other two thirds of the Golden Trio?"

Hermione grinned, shrugging him off her shoulders,

"I'd expect they're still at the ministry." She said, disappointed that they weren't here.

"Ah well, we'll make do." He laughed, "You were always my favourite anyway."

Hermione couldn't help the small smile that spread across her lips.

"Means the world, Georgie."

"I thought it would. I have that effect on people."

Hermione rolled her eyes but before she could reply, she spotted her parents rushing towards her. A genuine smile crossed her face at the sight of them.

Something about seeing her parents made reality finally hit home. This was over. She didn't have to live in fear, she didn't have to lie to her parents about the severity of the situation, and she didn't have to worry that they would be hurt.

"Hermione!" Her mother exclaimed, as George left them alone.

Hermione felt tears sting her eyes as she embraced her mother warmly, her father wrapping his arms around both of them.

"So it went well?" Her father asked, "You got him?"

"Yeah, we did." Hermione said happily.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetheart." Her mum gushed.

They hugged again and Hermione just felt relieved that they wouldn't be put through this much longer.

"So, um, not to sound ungrateful but does that mean we can go home tonight?"

"Robert!" Her mother scolded before turning to Hermione, "He's just devastated that he's missed all the football from the last few weeks."

"I don't even know what position my team are in the League!" He protested.

"I, for one, have enjoyed the break from football."

Hermione chuckled, "Well you can go home soon. I'm sorry that you had to stay here."

"Don't worry, darling," Her Dad reassured, "It was good seeing your world. I have loved all the moving pictures, they even talk! We'll have a proper catch up late, honey. Bye sweetheart."

Hermione smiled fondly at them as they walked towards the stairs, presumably to pack.

"Hermione!"

Hermione turned at the sound of her name to see Ginny and James coming towards her

"Hey."

"You did it!"

Hermione nodded contently, "We did."

James reached his arms out to her and Hermione took her godson. He smiled up at her, tugging at a piece of her hair. Hermione hugged him tightly, trying to forget the image of his face plastered across Lestrange's wall.

"Did you hear about Aberforth?" Hermione said suddenly.

Ginny replied sadly, "Yeah. It's awful."

"How's Neville? I know they were close. I haven't got a chance to see Neville."

"He's devastated, of course, but he said that Aberforth would rather it be him that someone else. He'd be even older than Dumbledore now." Ginny said.

"Doesn't make it any easier though, does it?"

"Of course not." Ginny agreed sadly.

The two women stood in silence for a while, Ginny watching as Hermione played with James in her arms.

"Mums making a big meal for us all, a celebration I suppose." Ginny said suddenly, "I'm going to help her, you ok with James?"

"Of course but are you sure you don't want me to help?"

Ginny snorted, "No, thank you. We'd rather have edible food."

"I am not that bad!" Hermione protested vehemently.

"You just keep telling yourself that, _darling_."

Hermione jumped slightly at the sound of Ron's voice behind her, but relaxed as his arms circled her waist. Hermione sighed in contentment, so grateful that she was alive and he was alive and they were here. It meant more to her than she could possible express. The tension in her shoulders vanished, for the first time in months when she realized that they now had a future again. And it was coming towards them quickly.

She smiled wider as she felt his lips on her neck, she turned to meet his mouth but a coughing noise behind her stopped her. Harry and Ginny were looking at them, half-amused half-exasperated.

"I'm going to go and help mum." Ginny smiled, kissing Harry gently and lifting James out of Hermione's arms, "And I'm going to take my son with me, Merlin knows he doesn't need to see anything like that again!"

Hermione blushed but managed to roll her eyes. Honestly, the things she had seen Harry and Ginny do in front of James hardly compared to Ron kissing her neck.

"Harry!" She exclaimed when Ginny had left, appreciating his presence for the first time. She rushed forward and hugged him tightly. She heard him laugh before embracing her just as tightly. This was finally over. Hermione was so relieved; they had made it out of the mess Benjamin Lestrange had created for them, narrowly avoiding another war. She couldn't imagine ever being more grateful than she was in this moment.

They had made it and there was nothing more perfect than being back at Grimmauld Place with her boys beside her.

"You might want to step back," Harry stage whispered, "I think you're boyfriend's going to get jealous."

Hermione laughed and she heard Ron chuckle from behind her but she did step back,

"Fiancé." Ron smirked.

"What?" Harry said, dumbfounded.

Ron looked at her pleadingly, asking for permission. Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, he had already begun telling harry so she didn't know why he was acting like he wanted permission now. She nodded though. Something felt right about telling Harry first.

"Fiancé, Potter, something wrong with your hearing?" Ron grinned; she could hear the happiness in his voice.

"No way!" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione decided it best to step in, "Yes, he asked me last night."

"Bloody hell," Harry laughed, "This is so you two, Merlin, congratulations!"

Hermione couldn't contain her happiness, breaking the news to Harry made her engagement even more real. _Her _engagement. She loved those words.

Harry wrapped both of them in a bone crushing hug and Hermione felt how happy he was for them. She felt a rush of affection for their oldest friend, without Harry's persistent nature she was sure this couldn't even have been possible. She remembered her annoyance when he insisted that they all work together again, and how she was ready to hex him when he enticed her to agree at the Order meeting. It seemed like such a long time ago now, when she had fought with Lavender and agreed to the position only to prove a point. After all that had happened it seemed so wrong that her biggest concern a couple of months ago was proving to Lavender Brown that she was an independent, capable woman. It seemed ridiculous, actually, her and Ron's behaviour the in the last few years. After all they had been through in their youth shouldn't they have realized how foolish it was to waste time? Did they really need another near death experience to prove that they still loved each other?

Hermione preferred to think that the last four years had been something that needed to happen in order for them to get where they were now. They needed to grow up. They needed to find themselves individually and give the other room to grow. And now, she found that they fitted even better. The last few weeks with Ron had been blissful and she felt like she was home.

She couldn't believe how far they had come from barely being able to look at each other when they first meet up at Grimmauld Place to investigate the ministry attack, to now, where as now they are engaged!

The trio pulled away from each other, Hermione had tears in her eyes and she noticed that Harry seemed to have too but she tried to hide them by blinking rather rapidly. Ron seemed a little choked up, hiding it with a rough cough. Hermione smiled fondly at them, she hated to use the term but there was something _adorable _about them right now, it was endearing to see them hide their emotion like the elevens year old she first met used to.

"Merlin, I'm still in shock," Harry grinned, Hermione and Ron following suit.

The joyous mood was infectious.

"Considering I told you I was planning to propose, it's not that much of a surprise, mate." Ron chuckled contently.

"You told him? Before you asked me?" Hermione raised her eyebrows, to which her fiancé shrugged.

"Yeah," Harry interrupted, "You might've mentioned something about proposing…at a restaurant, after the thing with Lestrange was finished."

Ron's ears reddened, as he slipped an arm around her waist,

"I was planning that but…well, the plan got threw out of the window. Besides, it's a bit boring, isn't it?"

"Cheers mate, what can I say? Not all of us can be as effortlessly romantic as you, eh?"

"It's a gift, Potter."

Hermione rolled her eyes, smacking both of them in the arm.

Harry grinned mischievously,

"Go on then, how'd you propose?"

Harry must've guessed the worst from the sheepish looks on both their faces, he scowled disgustedly.

"Never mind, forget I asked. That's the last thing I need to hear about," he said, "And if you think that is romantic, Hermione, then it's you who needs help."

Hermione laughed,

"Mind out of the gutter, Harry. It wasn't like that." Hermione muttered.

Ron shook his head, "Muggle thing, right?"

Hermione and Harry shared a grin before nodding.

"I'll never get used to those sayings."

"Your in-laws are going to be muggles, might want to get used to it." Harry smiled.

Hermione nodded but Ron seemed to have frozen. Hermione looked at him concernedly, wondering if Benjamin Lestrange had appeared behind her or something. She was about to reach for her wand and turn around when Ron seemed to regain thought.

"Bloody hell."

"Ronald-"

"Oh no, I'm an idiot!"

"Well we knew that," Harry joked, "but what's wrong?"

Ron ignored him but turned to Hermione hopelessly,

"I didn't ask you dad! He already hates me and now I didn't follow some muggle tradition. I swear I was going to but I-"

"Good lord, don't scare me like that, Ronald," She scolded, relived, "I thought this was something serious!"

"It is serious."

"Not really," Harry pointed out, "It's not like he liked you before."

"He liked him when we first started dating." Hermione said fairly.

"Will you two concentrate? This is serious." Ron muttered, "And he never liked me Hermione, you don't know what he used to say when you weren't there."

Hermione once again rolled her eyes, but Ron wasn't paying attention.

"I have to go and talk to him-"

"Ronald, you do not need to ask _permission_, I am not an object."

Ron met her eyes, "I know that! But still, I might offend him!"

Hermione was about to argue but Ron rushed off after kissing her check. She shook her head fondly at his retreating back.

"So, you two are getting married." Harry said, pulling Hermione from her thoughts.

She couldn't contain the grin that came to her face.

"Yes, we are."

Harry pulled her into a one armed hug, kissing her forehead in a brotherly fashion.

"You have no idea how happy I am for you. I've been waiting for you two to get your act together for years."

Hermione smiled at him. Harry really was the only one who never gave up on her and Ron. After the first two years, nearly all of her friends and family seemed to accept that she wasn't going to get back together with Ron. But not Harry. He had pushed and pushed, constantly dropping his name in conversation. Telling her to make the first move, casually inviting her to a dinner that Ron would be at by claiming it was for James' sake.

It was because he knew them best. Harry was the only person who came close to understanding their very confusing and unusual relationship. He was also the one who _really_ knew how much they loved each other.

"I should probably give him the talk."

"Shouldn't you have had that a while ago, Harry?" Hermione smirked, "Did you not know that was how you got James?"

"Oh ha ha," Harry muttered, "No, I meant the brother talk. I got it with Ginny. The whole, _if you hurt her, I'll…_thing."

Hermione felt more tears spring to her eyes, overwhelmed with affection for Harry. The awkward way in which he made the declaration warmed her heart. She knew how much he hated to talk about his feelings and that he was doing this for her. He really was her brother.

She hugged him tightly.

"Now, if you hurt Ron…" He whispered to her shoulder.

Hermione giggled, despite her tears and lightly punched his arm.

"Prat."

oo00OO00oo

Harry smiled at the scene around him. The celebration had begun, finally. Everyone who played a part in the demise of Lestrange was gathered in the same room, a feast to celebrate their victory. Harry was seated beside Ginny, with James on his other side. Hermione and Ron were facing them.

Harry couldn't express the joy he felt at finally being able to relax with the two most important people in his life without worrying that another war was going to break out. He had missed Ginny and James inexpressibly in the last few months and he knew that he hadn't been around as much as he should have.

But he was here with them now. Ready to make up for lost time. He was grateful to still have the last half of Ginny's pregnancy left, and then they would be welcoming a new addition to the family. The though made his smile grow wider, he couldn't wait!

His eyes drifted to the couple before him and he looked at them with fondness. While the last few months had been long, tiring and painful at least one good thing had come out of it.

Ron and Hermione were together again and stronger than ever. The bombshell they had dropped on him earlier had taken him completely by surprise. He knew that Ron was going to propose, sure, but he just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Something about Ron and Hermione getting married truly symbolised the end of their childhood. He could see it in their eyes earlier that this was it, no more rows that lasted months, no more silly games and no more avoiding their feelings.

He found himself feeling a little nostalgic, looking at how far his two best friends had come.

He remembered their first year, the bossy know-it-all (to use the cliché that their classmates called her) and the clueless ginger boy who absolutely hated each other. Even back then, when he was certain there were no romantic feelings between the pair, they drove each other crazy. Merlin, it took a troll to get them together! It surprised nearly everyone when Harry told them that Ron and Hermione were actually good friends at this time. Everyone seemed to assume that they only tolerated each other because Harry liked the other. But Harry knew better, Ron and Hermione's friendship had effortlessness that even his and theirs didn't. He remembered how shocked he was too, when he went to bed early one night, only to find that Ron stayed up a little later talking to Hermione, for he wasn't ashamed to admit that he initially had thought that Ron and Hermione didn't get along alone.

Then second year, they were mostly apart really. Hermione had been petrified. But that was the year that Hermione first realized that the Wizarding world could be a cruel place for muggle-borns. That year had been ripe with prejudice and Hermione heard the word that was now permanently carved into her skin, for the first time. Ron had been there and stood up for her, in the typical Ron way. Harry smiled warmly at the memory of 12 year old Ron defending a buck-toothed Hermione.

Third Year. Merlin that was a year. He had been very focused on his own issues that year but even he could not miss the blaring arguments they got into. Over their pets! It was mad, and Harry admitted that he thought they would never speak again after Crookshanks appeared to have eaten Scabbers. Harry often wondered if Crookshanks knew the trouble he was causing because he had always hated Ron…

Then the Yule Ball happened, and even Harry in his reluctance to accept that his friends' relationship with each other was different than their relationship with him, could see that Ron and Hermione had some kind of feelings with each other. It was fairly obvious with Krum-Gate and screaming at each other in the common room. Although he could not have predicted that it would take them a further three years to become an item.

It seemed that fifth year passed without any major developments in Ron and Hermione's relationship but it was at that time that Harry felt the pair was closer with each other than him. Due to his moody behaviour, their prefect meeting and Umbridge giving him detention nearly every night it was natural for Ron and Hermione to develop their friendship while he wasn't there. But they had both come through hugely with the DA. Harry never forgot that it was their idea really, and times like this when the DA were gathered together (the new Order) after saving the day he remembered it even more. So many people were keen to say that he was the founding member but Harry knew better. There would be no DA if it weren't for his best friends.

Harry couldn't even look back at sixth year without shaking his head in exasperation. Honestly, what were the two of them thinking? Up until that point, Harry had always assumed that it was just their shyness, and bad luck, keeping them away but that year he got a glimpse of the games they _both_ played and while they were amusing now, it was a nightmare to live through. Lavender-Gate still had repercussions eight years after it happened for Merlin's sake; she had nearly gotten Hermione killed due to the events of sixth year. Harry and Hermione's relationship changed that year, Harry began seeing her as more of a sister than his best friend and he had ever since. He had felt protective of her when Ron hurt her and that was something that was still there now.

Then the horcrux hunt, Harry knew that the pair was on the brink of a relationship when they left. Subtle changes, like the fact that Ron never hesitated in comforting Hermione or that Hermione had danced with Ron at the wedding without commenting on the rude way he asked her. Then, that bloody locket. That had nearly been the end of them. They were exhausted, hungry and grumpy and taking it all out on each other. Ron left. Hermione was devastated. Harry tried to make it better. Even when Ron came back, and Harry saw how true the love he felt for Hermione was, Harry wasn't sure they would ever recover from the scars of Ron's absence but something happened that made them all realize that life was short and they shouldn't waste time. Hermione was tortured, by Bellatrix Lestrange no less. And the only person that was allowed to comfort her was Ron. She needed him and suddenly it didn't matter that he had left, or that she had tried to make him jealous with McLaggen, they only cared about each other. Harry didn't find out until years later that the pair had kept the severity of Hermione's injuries from him but he was never angry because Hermione had gotten what she needed, that was what was most important. A kiss in the heat of battle sealed their fate, but Harry could never help and wonder of it was truly their first.

Then, the romance. The year apart when Hermione went back to school and Ron pined for her. Harry had to get used to seeing them as a couple and it was weird, but in a wonderful way. Everything about them just worked. There were so many predictions that their differences would come between them eventually but Harry always knew that their differences complimented each other rather than tore them apart. They were blissfully happy until that one fight. No one even knew what it was about but they broke up, and it was over.

Harry always knew they could get back together eventually because no one else had seen them overcome the horrors they had faced, surely another fight wouldn't tear them apart? But then came Lavender Brown, again. Harry even fell out with Ron when he heard about that but they had made up. Harry was once again the best friend of two that seemed determined never to talk to each other again. No one could believe after everything they had been through they threw it away in one night but after a while people gave up on the hope that the couple would reconcile. Hermione and Ron lived completely different lives for years, their paths never crossing.

So as Harry watched Ron and Hermione now, he couldn't feel more proud. They were sat beside each other, their bodies completely turned towards one another, giving the other their full attention. Hermione was beaming and talking very fast, words that Harry couldn't hear, while Ron nodded looking like he couldn't be more interested in what she was talking about and Harry knew this was simply because she was saying it.

Harry knew that he loved them so much; no one would ever be good enough for his best friends. Not Victor, Lavender or Tim. The only people Harry would think deserved to be with Ron and Hermione were Ron and Hermione and no one would ever convince him differently.

Ron and Hermione were the ideal couple in his mind. Sure they fought like no normal couple should but they had found real, deep and true love based on seven years on the strongest type of friendship. The both fell in love with their best friend and their other best friend couldn't be happier for them.

"Oh, there's Kingsley." Ginny muttered beside him, jolting Harry from his thoughts.

Harry looked away from his friends, and indeed saw Kingsley stepping out of the fireplace and walking towards the top of the room. He frowned slightly but reminded himself that they had caught Lestrange and that he ought to get used to Kingsley's presence not meaning bad news.

Oo00OO00oo

"Harry, Ron, Hermione." Kingsley said, motioning for them to join him. Ron quickly stood up, reaching out a hand for Hermione too.

"What're you doing here?" Ron aske curiously, he hoped nothing had went wrong.

"Relax, you three. I just wanted a word with everyone."

Ron breathed a sigh of relief, as he knew Hermione and Harry had too.

They reached the top of the room, more than one hundred people staring their way and Ron suddenly felt nervous. It seemed every single eye in the room was on them.

He glanced to his side and noticed Hermione looked just as nervous, judging by the way she was biting her lip. He smiled assuredly at her, a smile which she returned.

"Listen up everyone," Kingsley boomed, in his deep calming voice, "Thanks to the incredible efforts each and every one of you have put in during the last few weeks it is my pleasure to announce that Benjamin Lestrange has been apprehended following today's battle."

Kingsley had to stop as a resounding cheer echoed across the room. Ron felt himself grin as the Order erupted, complete happiness seemed to be coming from all sides of the room.

"Calm, please" Kingsley smiled, "The so called Doom Soldiers have also been rounded up, due to the presence of most of them at today's gathering. A list was found in Lestrange's liar listing the names of every Doom Soldier across the world, they are being arrested as we speak. The Ministry has discovered, through that same list, who was supplying information to Lestrange and we are acting accordingly, you are all free to go home or back to work. Although I would not begrudge any of you a holiday."

There were a few chuckles at this. Ron raised his eyes suggestively at Hermione, a couple of days alone with her, with no impending doom or work sounded bloody amazing. Hermione just rolled her eyes, apparently reading his thoughts, but Ron caught a smile on her face that made him smirk.

"I would like to personally thank our visitors, the courageous volunteers from other Orders across the world. You help is appreciated more than words can express and rest assured you shall be rewarded fully for your bravery. I have arranged portkeys for each and every one of you which are yours to activate whenever you want to go home." Kingsley said graciously, "But you are most welcome to stay and enjoy the celebration. I would also like to pay tribute to Aberforth Dumbledore, a brave and real wizard who died today fighting this cause. While we mourn for his death, let us be even more grateful for our own survival. Could I ask for a moment of silence for our comrade, and friend, Aberforth."

The room became deadly silent, each person lost on thoughts of what today had cost. Ron himself couldn't believe that Aberforth had gone, he wouldn't say they were very close but Aberforth had always gotten Ron's respect, especially in ways that his brother did not. Aberforth was realistic and, while cynical at times, he cared about his family more than anything else. Life had been harsh to Aberforth, taking away all that he cared about and Ron hoped the old man would be happier now that he was reunited with his sister and family.

"Thank you," Kingsley said, "Aberforth shall never be forgotten."

A round of applause broke out, with many people standing up from their seats. A true Order of the Phoenix send-off, for a top-class bloke, in Ron's opinion.

"Now," Kingsley began again, "There are only a few more people left to thank. I think we can all agree that the Golden Trio (the crowd chucked at the hated nickname), Harry, Ron and Hermione have done an outstanding job. Despite our progress, our society still had to call on the three when times became troubled and they accepted willingly. Despite the effect this mission has had on their own lives, these three continued to lead the Order to victory, at a time where even I could not. Thank you."

Ron felt his ears burn red as the crowd began clapping and cheering. Hermione scooted closer to him in shyness while Harry scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. They all hated this part. It was fine to have people you don't know come up and say thank you but when it's your school mates, your parents, your friends and your future-in-laws, it was just embarrassing.

Kingsley sat down quickly and Ron understood this to mean that they were supposed to say something. He looked to Harry and Hermione for help but Harry looked reluctant to make a speech and Hermione was still crying from the mention of Aberforth, Ron knew she had been there only a few hours ago when he died and he didn't want to push her.

Sighing, he cleared his throat as Hermione's hand slipped into his,

"I don't really know what to say-"

"There's a surprise!" George heckled.

Ron ignored him,

"-but I do want to let all of you know how much we appreciate your efforts. These last few months have been…hard and I know lots of you have suffered a lot because of your loyalty to the Order but I want to say thank you for your loyalty to us. I know it isn't easy to follow us, since we don't tell anyone what the bloody hell is going on-"

"Nothing new there," Neville called.

Ron smiled at him, glad to see that his friend was coping with Aberforth's death. Neville was very close to the man and it would be hard for him so Ron would take any jesting that came him way if it made Neville feel better.

"Still, it means a lot." Ron grinned, "Half the time we had no idea what to do, honestly and it's thanks to all of you that we're here today. So…thank you, every one of you. I owe you a lot."

He was being sincere, truly sincere, because he did owe the Order so much. When Hermione had been taken, they hadn't stopped until they had a plan and ideas. They had responded to every plea from the trio and came to every meeting organised, no matter the time. Merlin, they had willingly subjected themselves to Veritaserum to prove they weren't traitors, that was loyalty!

"I think Ron said it all," Harry smiled, "You are all family to me, and I can't even count the number of times you've saved my arse."

The crowd chuckled,

"But seriously, you are all amazing. Merlin knows we wouldn't have even known who Lestrange was without you."

Harry finished speaking and every eye in the room turned to Hermione, she looked like she had no idea what to say, she had tears in her eyes that were probable down to the speeches Ron and Harry made,

"I, um…Thank you. Thank you all so much," She said, in a choked voice, "Not just for today, or this week, or the last few months. Thank you all for the last ten years, ever since I first knew the Order and the DA I have been amazed at the compassion and bravery you show. Today was another example of that and I can't express my gratitude."

A few tears leaked down her cheeks, as the crowd began to applaud for the trio. Ron quickly rushed back down to his seat, eager to get away from all the staring. Hermione slide in beside him a few seconds later,

"That was a lovely speech, Ron." Ginny said to him, her eyes watery.

Ron was startled to see his sister show so much emotion, but it could have been the hormones. Nevertheless he smiled warmly at her, grateful for her support.

oo00OO00oo

Hermione collapsed roughly into his shoulder, giggling in a way most unlike her,

"You're drunk." Ron slurred, not feeling the most sober himself.

"Not that much," Hermione said adamantly, though her dishevelled appearance ruined the effect. "Just a little tipsy."

Ron laughed contently, still unable to believe that this was happening. They were together, and free, and happy.

Hermione laughed again as a Spanish volunteer danced past them in a way reminiscent of Luna,

"I'm glad they decided to stay for a while."

"Yeah," Ron snorted, "That guy says he's moving here."

"Hmmm…maybe ask him that when he is a little more sober."

"You mean you don't think he's sober? Would gave him away, the smell of alcohol or the fact that he's following around George, pointing at his hair and saying 'oh the light'!"

They collapsed in laughter, and Ron couldn't have felt happier. He turned around to talk to her but found her face much closer to his than he originally thought. He smiled at the image of her lying of his shoulder, staring into his eyes. Ron bent down and captured her lips with his, kissing her softly and sweetly trying to show her how much her loved her, and how happy he was that they were here.

They broke apart a while later, both their cheeks flushed from a mix of the contact and the firewhiskey.

"We're getting married." Hermione said suddenly, smiling widely at him.

"Yeah, we are." He grinned, still processing it.

"It's going to be brilliant."

Ron swung his arm around her, chuckling, and found that he couldn't agree more. He simply couldn't wait for them to begin their lives together. He wanted to announce it now, in fact, when a few hours ago he had been dreading telling everyone. He wanted to start planning the wedding; he wanted to make sure it happened as soon as possible. He wanted to begin the rest of his life…with Hermione. Merlin, he simply couldn't wait.

But then she was kissing him again, more passionately, more demanding and he found that telling everyone could wait until tomorrow. They had the rest of their lives after all. He felt giddy, an emotion not usually found in Ron Weasley.

"Let's go," Hermione whispered in his ear, motioning to their parents who were a short distance away and could see their less than acceptable public behaviour quite clearly.

"Yeah, let's go home." Ron said, rejoicing that he was finally going home and Hermione was coming with him. Just a few months ago he had been waiting outside a hospital door, wondering if she would live never mind get back together with him. It was absolutely incredible but this was the start, just the start for them. Hermione was right, as usual, it was going to be bloody brilliant. This was where they were always supposed to be…with each other. And they were never going to be anywhere else again.

**THE END **

**Well, I really hope that lived up to the expectations of everyone who has been enjoying my story. I honestly can't believe the response I've gotten for this and I and so grateful for every single review, favourite or follow I have received!**

**A special thanks to ****OliWest ****who beta'd some of this story for me, it was a huge help and I am very grateful. **

**Also to ****rhmac12**** who really encouraged me to finish this, there have been many a times when I wanted to forget all about it but you reminded me that you were enjoying it and I am so thankful you did, or I doubt the story would be finished!**

**I would love to name every single person who reviewed but it would delay putting this chapter up and I didn't want to make you wait any longer, just to mention that there have been a lot of people who review nearly all the updates and I am so thankful for them too, I love hearing from you all.**

**Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought of the ending :)**


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